The impact of digital health interventions on medication adherence in hypertensive patients

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of digital health interventions on medication adherence in hypertensive patients in Uzbekistan. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 patients attending medical centers in Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara. Information was collected through a structured questionnaire including demographic information, the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, and a questionnaire about using digital interventions. The findings revealed that only 27.1% of the patients belonged to the high medication adherence, while 32.3% were in the low adherence group. As far as the use of digital tools is concerned, the most utilized tool was SMS reminders at 41.4%. Statistical tests also found a significant relationship between the use of digital interventions and medication adherence in a manner that users of these tools had a higher adherence score (r = 0.42, p < 0.001). Mobile application users had the highest mean adherence score (7.1) and non-users the lowest (5.4). Multivariate regression analyses also identified frequency of use of digital tools as the strongest positive predictor of adherence (β = 0.38), with number of medications prescribed being a negative predictor. Further, at each level of adherence, patients who used digital tools were more likely to have optimal blood pressure control. This study concludes that digital health interventions can play an important role in improving medication adherence and clinical outcomes among hypertensive patients, but their success depends on contextual factors such as access to technology and cultural appropriateness of the tools.