Gender Differences in Cardiac Organ Damage in Arterial Hypertension: Assessing the Role of Drug Nonadherence

Cardiac organ damage like left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and left atrial (LA) enlargement is more prevalent in women than men with hypertension, but the mechanisms underlying this gender difference remain unclear. We tested the association of drug nonadherence with the presence of LV hypertrophy and LA enlargement by echocardiography in 186 women and 337 men with uncontrolled hypertension defined as daytime systolic blood pressure (BP) ≥ 135mmHg despite the prescription of at least two antihypertensive drugs. Drug adherence was assessed by measurements of serum drug concentrations interpreted by an experienced pharmacologist. Aldosterone-renin-ratio (ARR) was measured on actual medication. Women had a higher prevalence of LV hypertrophy (46 https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; Unique identifier: NCT03209154.