Medication adherence and predictive factors in patients with cardiovascular disease: A comparison study between Australia and Iraq

Medication adherence trajectory of patients with chronic diseases and its influencing factors: A systematic review

AIMS

To synthesize the published studies on medication adherence trajectories among patients with chronic diseases and identify the influencing factors.

DESIGN

Systematic review.

DATA SOURCES

Medline (Ovid), Embase (Ovid) and Web of Science core collection were searched from database inception to 1 July 2022.

REVIEW METHODS

Potentially eligible articles were independently screened by three reviewers using set inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for cohort studies was used to appraise the quality of the included articles. Three reviewers independently evaluated the quality, extracted data and resolved differences by consensus. Results were presented using descriptive synthesis, and the prevalence of recategorised medication adherence trajectories was calculated from the published data.

RESULTS

Fifty studies were included. Medication adherence trajectories among patients with chronic diseases were synthesized into six categories: adherence, non-adherence, decreasing adherence, increasing adherence, fluctuating adherence and moderate adherence. Low and moderate evidence showed that (1) patient-related factors, including age, sex, race, marital status and mental status; (2) healthcare team and system-related factors, including healthcare utilization, insurance and primary prescriber specialty; (3) socioeconomic factors including education, income and employment status; (4) condition-related factors including complications and comorbidities and (5) therapy-related factors including the number of medications, use of other medications, and prior medication adherence behaviours were factors influencing the medication adherence trajectory. Marital status and prior medication adherence behaviour were the only influencing factors with moderate evidence of an effect.

CONCLUSION

The medication adherence trajectory among patients with chronic diseases varied widely. Further studies are warranted to determine contributory factors.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION

Healthcare providers should be aware that patients' medication adherence has different trajectories and should take appropriate measures to improve patients' medication adherence patterns.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

None. As a systematic review, patients and the public were not involved.

Prevalence of Nonadherence to Medications among Geriatric Patients in Al-Madinah Al-Munawara City's Hospitals, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Introduction

Medication adherence is a major component in the treatment of chronic patients, especially the older adults. It acts as an essential part of a successful therapeutic outcome, increasing treatment benefits, and decreasing hospital admissions, health care utilization, and cost. Limited research regarding medication adherence has been conducted nationwide; however, data among the older adults is sparse due to the lack of research on this topic. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of medication nonadherence among older adults' Saudi patients with chronic diseases living in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah city.

Method

A cross-sectional study was conducted on outpatient older patients with chronic diseases who visited clinics at different hospitals in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah city, from March until December 2022. The questionnaire was published in a conversational Arabic dialect. The adherence level was measured by the Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale (ARMS) and the reasons for medication nonadherence were collected by using the Cluig scale.

Results

65.1% of females and 34.9% of males have participated in this study. According to the ARMS scale, 67.9% of patients had poor medication adherence and 32.1% had good medication adherence. Poor adherence was higher in females compared to males, with a p value = 0.018. For educational level, the ARMS score in graduates was higher than patients who finished middle school and illiterate patients. Based on the Cluig scale, the most common reasons for medication nonadherence were forgetfulness, feeling well, polypharmacy, and subsequent avoidance of side effects. The findings indicate the gender-based differences in the factors that associated with medication nonadherence among older adults.

Conclusion

Medication adherence is crucial especially among older adults to improve clinical outcomes. The current results highlight the prevalence of medication adherence among the older adult population. This result shows the gender-based differences in the factors associated with medication nonadherence among the older adult population.

The effect of health literacy in explaining medication adherence among patients with hypertension: A cross-sectional study of Syrian refugees in Jordan

BACKGROUND

Poor medication adherence is a concern among patients with hypertension. However, few studies have assessed the effect of health literacy on medication adherence among refugee patients.

AIM

The aim was to examine the effect of health literacy and associated factors in explaining medication adherence among Syrian refugee patients with hypertension.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was used, recruiting 150 Syrian refugees with hypertension in February 2020. The Hill-Bone scale and the Health Literacy Questionnaire were used to collect data, which were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

RESULTS

Participants had low levels of medication adherence and had low mean scores in eight of nine subscales of the health literacy scale, except in the appraisal of health information subscale. Factors including patient's age, marital status, the number of medications and co-morbid diseases were significantly associated with medication adherence. Age, understanding written health information and ability to engage with healthcare providers were predictive of medication adherence.

CONCLUSION

To increase medication adherence among refugee patients with hypertension, nurses need to improve patients' health literacy and understanding of health information about their disease.

Illness Perception, Self-Efficacy, and Medication Adherence in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease: A Path Analysis of Conceptual Model

Introduction

Illness perception and self-efficacy in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) may affect medication adherence, which is one of the most important challenges in disease management in this group of patients.

Objective

The present study aimed to investigate the factors influencing medication adherence in CAD patients, especially the effect of illness perception and self-efficacy.

Methods

This study was cross-sectional and conducted from April to September 2021. A total of 259 patients with confirmed CAD were selected by convenience sampling method based on inclusion criteria. Illness perception, self-efficacy, and medication adherence were investigated using Brief IPQ, SCSES, and MARS_10 questionnaires, respectively. The data were analyzed using the STATA software (version 14) and the regression path analysis method.

Results

Patients had moderate illness perception and high self-efficacy, and 61.8 of them adhered to their medication regimen. Greater illness perception, better self-efficacy, and higher education had a positive effect on medication adherence, and increasing age had a negative effect on it. The final path model shows a good fit of the data in the model (χ2: 0.37, df: 274, χ2/df: 0.36, CFI: 1, IFI: 0.95, TLI: 1.07, and RMSEA: 0.00).

Conclusion

The results of the present study suggest that patients' illness perception can play an important role in predicting self-efficacy in disease management and the level of medication adherence in patients with CAD. To improve self-efficacy and medication adherence, future intervention studies should focus on the patient's illness perceptions and their improvement.

A qualitative exploration of the impact of knowledge and perceptions about hypertension in medication adherence in Middle Eastern refugees and migrants

Background

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Psychosocial Determinants of the Intention to Take Oral Antihypertensive Drugs: A Cross-sectional Study

Objective: To identify the psychosocial predictors that influence the behavioral intention to take oral antihypertensive drugs. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study, based on the theory of planned behavior. A questionnaire constructed and validated was applied to 220 individuals with systemic arterial hypertension in outpatient follow-up at a public hospital. The chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests, Spearman’s correlation and multiple logistic regression were used for data analysis. Results: The participants presented a high intention of taking antihypertensive drugs. The behavioral beliefs (ß = 0.0432; p = 0.0364), subjective norm (ß = -1.5708; p < 0.01) and perceived behavioral control (ß = 2.2809; p = 0.0028) explained the behavioral intention in 33 %. Conclusions: The behavioral beliefs, the subjective norm, and the perceived behavioral control are significant psychosocial predictors of taking antihypertensive drugs and must be valued, individually and jointly, in the health actions targeted at this population.

Non-prescription medicines may contribute to non-adherence to prescription medicines in people living with chronic health conditions

BACKGROUND

Non-adherence to prescribed medicines is linked to adverse health outcomes in people living with chronic health conditions (CHCs). Multiple factors are known to contribute to non-adherence to medicines including polypharmacy, demographic features and disease and health systems. Both non-prescription and prescription medicines contribute to polypharmacy; however, there is limited data on the influence of non-prescription medicines to non-adherence.

AIM

Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the influence of non-prescription medicines to non-adherence in an Australian population.

METHODS

Data from the 2016 National Survey of a random sample of Australian adult residents were utilised in this study to investigate factors associated with non-adherence. Descriptive statistics, χ² , regression and generalised linear models were used to assess the relationships between variables of interest. Narrative response and comments were used to provide further insight.

RESULTS

This study recruited 1217 participants to explore factors associated with non-adherence to medicines. Weak but statistically significant correlations were identified showing the number of CHCs, patient's age, number of prescription medicines, number of non-prescription medicines and total number of medicines associated with non-adherence.

DISCUSSION

The findings suggest that people living with CHCs and taking multiple medicines, including non-prescription medicines, are likely to be non-adherent to prescription medicines. This study shows the possible involvement of non-prescription medicines in contributing to non-adherence in an Australian population and suggests that future studies with a broader demographic are warranted.