Abstract

Background: Poor adherence to medications represents a major barrier to achieving the desired health outcomes in patients with chronic diseases. 

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate medication non-adherence and its associated factors among chronically ill patients.

Methodology: In this cross-sectional study, the 4-item medication adherence scale was used to assess medication adherence among chronically ill patients attending the outpatient clinic of governmental primary healthcare center in the period from June through November 2024.  The logistic regression statistic model was used to determine the factors associated with medication non-adherence.

Results: In total, 160 patients were included in the study with a non-adherence rate of 43.1%.  Not receiving information about medication (OR= 2.87; CI: 1.4 -3.9), number of daily pills (OR= 1.61; CI: 1.1-2.3), polypharmacy (OR= 2.30; CI: 1.3-3.3), changes in treatment (OR= 3.10; CI: 2.2-4.6), and lack of appropriate knowledge (OR= 2.88; CI: 1.2-4.1) were associated with medication non-adherence. On the other hand, incorporating treatment plans into daily activities (OR= 0.17; CI: 0.05-0.6) was inversely associated with medication non-adherence.

Conclusion: The poor medication adherence in the present study sheds light on the importance of implementing intervention programs that focus on enrich patients’ information and knowledge, prescribing the least possible number of medications and daily pills, and encouraging incorporating medication received into daily activities.