Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 24382, Saudi Arabia.
Pharmacy Department, King Faisal Medical Complex, Taif 26514, Saudi Arabia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 15;19(16):10053. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191610053.
Introduction: The management of chronic illnesses commonly includes a long-term pharmacological approach. Although these medications effectively control disease, their full benefits are often not realized because approximately 50% of patients do not take their medications as prescribed. Medication adherence has become a big concern to clinicians and healthcare systems in Saudi Arabia and worldwide because of growing evidence associating nonadherence with adverse outcomes and higher costs of care. Despite it being a well-recognized problem, few studies have investigated medication adherence in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study aims to gain a better perspective on medication adherence among patients with chronic diseases in Saudi Arabia. Method: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted among patients with chronic diseases in the Makkah region, Saudi Arabia, from 1 May to 31 July 2021. Patients aged 18 years and above who were taking prescribed or over-the-counter medications were included. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the participants’ characteristics, and categorical variables were reported as frequencies and percentages. A Chi-square test was used to test the relations between variables. Results: In total, 239 participants were included in the study. Females represented 62% of the participants. In terms of the history of chronic diseases, 44% had hypertension, 40% had diabetes mellitus, 21% had heart diseases and 9% had asthma. Nearly half (49%) of participants did not follow up regularly with a primary healthcare center and 42% said that they had forgotten to take their medications in the past. However, most of the participants (78%) stated that they took their medicine as instructed by their doctor or pharmacist, and 61% took their medications on time. The majority of participants (85%) said that the pharmacist explained the method of using the medications and the instructions for use, while 30% thought that the medications they took were too much. In regard to the reasons for medication nonadherence, having no specific reasons for medication nonadherence was the most common cause for nonadherence in our study. The relationship between patients taking medications as instructed by a healthcare provider (the doctor or pharmacist) and the healthcare provider giving clear instructions to patients about medication use was significant (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Failure to adhere is a significant problem that not only affects the patient but also the healthcare system. Additional research is needed to monitor medication adherence and identify factors contributing to this problem to provide successful strategies to improve medication adherence in Saudi Arabia.
慢性病的管理通常包括长期的药物治疗方法。尽管这些药物能有效地控制疾病，但由于约有 50%的患者没有按照规定服药，其全部疗效往往无法实现。由于越来越多的证据表明不遵医嘱与不良后果和更高的医疗费用有关，因此，沙特阿拉伯和全球的临床医生和医疗保健系统都对药物依从性问题非常关注。尽管这是一个众所周知的问题，但沙特阿拉伯很少有研究调查药物依从性。因此，本研究旨在更好地了解沙特阿拉伯慢性病患者的药物依从性。
本研究是一项基于问卷的横断面研究，于 2021 年 5 月 1 日至 7 月 31 日在沙特阿拉伯麦加地区的慢性病患者中进行。纳入年龄在 18 岁及以上、正在服用规定或非处方药的患者。采用描述性统计方法描述参与者的特征，分类变量以频率和百分比表示。采用卡方检验检验变量之间的关系。
共纳入 239 名参与者。女性占参与者的 62%。在慢性病病史方面，44%有高血压，40%有糖尿病，21%有心脏病，9%有哮喘。近一半（49%）的参与者没有定期到初级保健中心就诊，42%的人表示过去曾忘记服药。然而，大多数参与者（78%）表示他们按照医生或药剂师的指示服药，61%的人按时服药。大多数参与者（85%）表示药剂师解释了用药方法和使用说明，而 30%的人认为他们服用的药物太多。至于药物不依从的原因，没有具体的药物不依从原因是我们研究中药物不依从的最常见原因。患者按照医疗保健提供者（医生或药剂师）的指示服药与医疗保健提供者向患者提供明确的用药说明之间存在显著关系（p<0.001）。
不依从是一个严重的问题，不仅影响患者，也影响医疗保健系统。需要进一步研究来监测药物依从性，并确定导致这一问题的因素，以便在沙特阿拉伯提供成功的改善药物依从性的策略。
