Perspectives on reasons of medication nonadherence in psychiatric patients

Figures & data

Table 1 Sociodemographic parameters

Sociodemographic characteristics	n (%)
Sex
Female	90 (44.3)
Male	113 (55.7)
Marital status
Married	96 (47.3)
Single	75 (36.9)
Divorced	22 (10.8)
Widow	10 (4.9)
Education status
Primary school	78 (38.4)
Secondary school	40 (19.7)
High school	59 (29.1)
University	24 (11.8)
Employment status
Unemployed	145 (71.4)
Employed	58 (28.6)
Place of residence
Village	39 (19.2)
County	34 (16.7)
City	130 (64.0)
Households
Spouse/children	82 (40.4)
Mother/father/sibling	97 (47.8)
Nursery	5 (2.7)
Alone	17 (9.0)
Other	2 (0.1)

Table 2 Medication nonadherence in bipolar disorder, schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder, depression, and other disorder groups

Medication nonadherence	Bipolar disorder (n=68)	Schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (n=59)	Depression (n=39)	Other (n=37)	Total
Present	45 (45.5%)	24 (24.2%)	12 (12.1%)	18 (18.2%)	99 (100%)
Absent	23 (22.1%)	35 (33.7%)	27 (26.0%)	19 (18.3%)	104 (100%)

Notes: Medication nonadherence was significantly higher in the bipolar group when compared to the other diagnostic groups (P<0.05).

Table 3 Feedback related to the reasons of medication nonadherence in bipolar disorder, schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder, depression, and other diagnostic groups

Items	Bipolar disorder (n=45)	Schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (n=24)	Depression (n=12)	Other (n=18)
Item 1: Not willing to use medication	19 (23.2%)	6 (15.85%)	5 (17.9%)	7 (25.9%)
Item 2: Not accepting the disease	23 (32.9%)	9 (23.7%)	5 (17.9%)	6 (22.2%)
Item 3: Being disturbed by side effects	22 (26.8%)	4 (10.5%)	5 (17.9%)	8 (29.6%)
Item 4: Feeling well	11 (13.4%)	5 (13.2%)	8 (28.6%)	3 (11.1%)
Item 5: Not knowing how long the medication would need to be taken for	1 (1.2%)	4 (10.5%)	1 (3.6%)	0
Item 6: Not being aware that the medication needed to be taken regularly	0	6 (15.8%)	2 (7.1%)	2 (7.4%)
Item 7: Other	2 (2.4%)	4 (10.5%)	2 (7.1%)	1 (3.7%)

Notes: Answers in each diagnostic group are shown as the number and percentage of cases representing each answer. The distribution of the items selected by the cases in a seven-item question – multiple answer questions answered as yes/no – examining the reasons of medication nonadherence was evaluated using multiple response analysis. The table yielded the following results: items 1, 2, and 3 in bipolar disorder cases, item 2 in schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder cases, item 4 in depression cases, and item 3 in cases diagnosed with other disorders were found to be significantly important in medication nonadherence.

Table 4 Odds ratios of the selected demographic and clinical parameters that may affect medication nonadherence

Dependent variables	P-value	Odds ratio	95% confidence interval
Age	0.86	1.0	0.97–1.04
Sex	0.44	1.3	0.65–2.73
Marital status	0.77	0.9	0.61–1.44
Education	0.09	0.3	0.08–1.21
Smoking	0.50	1.3	0.63–2.58
Living with others	0.37	0.8	0.58–1.23
Place of residence	0.55	0.9	0.59–1.32
Irregular follow-up attendance	0.001	5.7	2.92–11.31
Diagnosis	0.01	1.5	1.07–1.95

Notes: Logistic regression analysis revealed that diagnosis and irregular follow-up attendance were the variables that had significant effects on medication nonadherence.