Adherence to blood pressure-lowering treatment is crucial for reducing the risk of major cardiovascular disease events, coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and all-cause mortality. Despite the proven efficacy of antihypertensive therapy in reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, adherence rates globally remain suboptimal. In our presentation, we examine the barriers to medication adherence, including patient-related factors, therapy-related factors, condition-related factors, health-care team/system-related factors, and socioeconomic factors. One of the possible ways to solve the problem of insufficient adherence to antihypertensive treatment by using fixed-dose combinations will also be discussed. We emphasize that improving adherence requires a patient-centered, systematic approach. 

Akatova Evgeniya Vladimirovna completed her Doctor of Medical Sciences in 2010. She is a Professor at the Department of Hospital Therapy in FSBEI HE "Russian University of Medicine" of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. She has more than 100 publications that have been cited over 21000 times, her h-index in Scopus is 6, and her h-index in Web of Science is 11.