Despite the availability of effective treatment, over half of the patients being treated for hypertension
drop out of care entirely within a year of diagnosis (15) and of those who remain under medical supervision
only about 50% take at least 80% of their prescribed medications (16). Consequently, because of
poor adherence to antihypertensive treatment, approximately 75% of patients with a diagnosis of
hypertension do not achieve optimum blood-pressure control (13,18).