Incomplete medication adherence of chronically ill patients in German primary care

Figures & data

Table 1 Associations between patient characteristics and medication adherence in univariate analysis

Variable	Complete adherence; N (%) 72 (37.9)	Incomplete adherence; N (%) 118 (62.1)	N (total) = 190	Test (df)	P	d
Sex; N (%)			190	χ^2 = 2.741 (1)	0.098	0.307
Male	49 (25.8)	93 (48.9)
Female	23 (12.1)	25 (13.2)
Age; M (SD)	63.7 (14.8)	62.6 (13.2)	183	t = −0.491 (181)	0.624	0.08
Employment status; N (%)			189	χ^2 = 0.554 (1)	0.457	0.144
Employed	16 (8.5)	31 (16.4)
Unemployed	57 (30.2)	85 (44.9)
Education; N (%)			183	χ^2 = 0.437 (1)	0.508	0.140
Academic	13 (7.1)	24 (13.1)
not academic	60 (32.8)	86 (47)
Patient information; M (SD)	11 (4.7)	9.6 (4.8)	178	t = −1.922 (176)	0.056	0.292
Action and usage	6.9 (2.4)	6.3 (2.5)	178	t = −1.647 (176)	0.101
Potential problems	4 (2.9)	3.3 (2.9)	177	t = −1.724 (175)	0.086
Medication complexity; M (SD)	16.5 (10.7)	14.4 (10.4)	175	t = −1.301 (173)	0.195	0.199
Physical QoL; M (SD)	39.6 (11.8)	38.6 (11.2)	174	t = −0.541 (172)	0.589	0.088
Mental QoL; M (SD)	46.2 (10.6)	46.1 (10.8)	174	t = −0.056 (172)	0.955	0.009
Hypertension; N (%)			186	χ^2 = 0.001 (1)	0.981	0.007
Yes	62 (33.3)	105 (56.5)
no	7 (3.8)	12 (6.4)
DM type 2; N (%)			186	χ^2 = 0.104 (1)	0.747	0.057
Yes	22 (11.8)	40 (21.5)
no	47 (25.3)	77 (41.4)
Hyperlipidemia; N (%)			186	FET	0.131	0.511
Yes	7 (3.8)	5 (2.7)
no	62 (33.3)	112 (60.2)
Obesity; N (%)			186	χ^2 = 2.123 (1)	0.145	0.392
Yes	6 (3.2)	19 (10.2)
no	63 (33.9)	98 (52.7)
Malignant tumor; N (%)			190	χ^2 = 1.585 (1)	0.208	0.282
Yes	10 (5.3)	25 (13.2)
no	62 (32.6)	93 (48.9)

Notes: Patient information is the patients’ satisfaction with the information they received about their medication (SIMS-D score); medication complexity is the MrCI-D (Medication regimen Complexity Index) Score.

Abbreviations: N, number; df, degrees of freedom; d, effect size; M, mean; SD, standard deviation; QoL, quality of life; FET, Fisher’s exact test; DM Type 2, diabetes mellitus type two; SIMS-D, Satisfaction with Information about Medicines Scale; MrCI-D, Medication regimen Complexity Index.

Table 2 Pairwise correlations between analyzed patient characteristics

	Sex	Age	Employment status	Education	SIMS-D score	MRCI-D score	Physical QoL	Mental QoL	Arterial hypertension	DM 2	Hyperlipidemia	Obesity	Malignant tumor
Sex	1	0.09	−0.12	−0.15*	−0.05	0.19*	−0.08	−0.12	0.08	−0.03	0.17*	−0.03	−0.15*
Age	0.09	1	−0.47*	0.00	0.09	0.04	−0.23*	0.02	0.07	0.13	−0.01	−0.10	0.15*
Employment status	−0.12	−0.47*	1	0.12	−0.06	−0.14	0.24*	−0.01	−0.01	−0.03	0.01	0.04	0.02
Education	−0.15*	0.00	0.12	1	0.01	−0.04	0.12	0.19*	−0.01	−0.01	0.04	−0.03	−0.05
Patient information	−0.05	0.09	−0.06	0.01	1	0.07	0.04	0.17*	−0.11	0.02	0.02	−0.13	−0.09
Medication complexity	0.19*	0.04	−0.14	−0.04	0.07	1	−0.3*	−0.26*	−0.04	0.33*	0.07	−0.01	−0.23
Physical QoL	−0.08	−0.23*	0.24*	0.12	0.04	−0.29*	1	0.22*	0.06	−0.20*	−0.09	0.00	0.07
Mental QoL	−0.12	0.02	−0.01	0.19*	0.17*	−0.26*	0.2*	1	0.01	−0.14	−0.06	−0.09	−0.09
Arterial hypertension	0.08	0.07	−0.01	−0.01	−0.11	−0.04	0.06	0.01	1	0.04	0.09	0.02	−0.09
DM 2	−0.03	0.13	−0.03	−0.01	0.02	0.33*	−0.20*	−0.14	0.04	1	0.17*	0.02	−0.15*
Hyperlipidemia	0.17*	−0.01	0.01	0.04	0.02	0.07	−0.09	−0.06	0.09	0.17*	1	−0.04	−0.13*
Obesity	−0.03	−0.10	0.04	−0.03	−0.13	−0.01	0.00	−0.09	0.02	0.02	−0.04	1	0.07
Malignant tumor	−0.15*	0.15*	0.02	−0.05	−0.09	−0.23	0.07	−0.09	−0.09	-0.15*	-0.13*	0.07	1

Notes: ^*level of significance < 0.05. Patient information represents the patients’ satisfaction with the information they received about their medication (SIMS-D score). Medication complexity indicates the MRCI score.

Abbreviations: R, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient; SIMS-D, Satisfaction with Information about Medicines Scale; MRCI-D, Medication Regimen Complexity Index; QoL, quality of life; DM 2, diabetes mellitus type two.

Table 3 Associations of incomplete medication adherence in multivariate analysis

Variable	OR	95% CI	P
Female sex	1.38	0.55; 3.47	0.493
Lower age	0.99	0.96; 1.02	0.534
Unemployment	0.92	0.35; 2.40	0.859
Lower education	0.38	0.13; 1.11	0.076
Lower information (SIMS-D score)	0.94	0.87; 1.02	0.143
Lower medication complexity (MRCI-D score)	0.98	0.94; 1.02	0.211
Lower physical QoL	0.97	0.94; 1.01	0.108
Lower mental QoL	0.99	0.96; 1.03	0.756
Absence of arterial hypertension	0.56	0.17; 1.92	0.359
Absence of DM 2	0.78	0.31; 1.97	0.598
Hyperlipidemia	2.33	0.49; 11.11	0.288
Absence of obesity	0.82	0.28; 2.40	0.717
Absence of malignant tumor	0.96	0.35; 2.63	0.929

Note: Nagelkerke’s R² = 0.118.

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; SIMS-D, Satisfaction with Information about Medicines Scale; MRCI-D, Medication Regimen Complexity Index; QoL, quality of life; DM 2, diabetes mellitus type two.