ESTIMATION OF MEDICATION ADHERENCE IN GERIATRIC PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS

Shaziya Tarannum*, Bhavana Keshetti and Sandeep Kumar Beemreddy

ABSTRACT

Background: Adherence to medication is an important part of patient care to achieve clinical goals in patients suffering from chronic illness. Medication nonadherence in patients leads to increased healthcare costs, substantial worsening of disease and death. Aim is to estimate medication adherence in geriatric patients with chronic illness. Methods: This study is a prospective, questionnaire-based observational study conducted for 6 months in a tertiary care teaching hospital. MMAS-8 and BMQ were used to know the extent of medication adherence. Results: Data was collected from a total of 155 geriatric patients suffering from chronic illness of the age distribution 60-85 years with a mean age of 68.76±6.37 years of which 89 were males and 66 were females. The age group of 65-69 patients are 50 (27%) higher when compared to other age groups. Out of all the study population, the patients suffering from only one chronic illness were found to be 95, and two chronic illnesses were 50, three chronic illnesses were 9 and four chronic illnesses were 1. The percentage of people with poor adherence is high (63%) with MMAS-8 and the percentage of people with potential nonadherence is high (63.2%) with BMQ. Conclusion: Medication adherence is poor in geriatric patients with chronic illness. Therefore, effort should be made by the health care team to identify the reasons for nonadherence and initiate steps to improve medication adherence by promoting patient education and about disease and treatment.

Keywords: Adherence, Geriatric, Chronic illness, Mmas-8, BMQ.