Attitudes toward taking medication among outpatients with schizophrenia: cross-national comparison between Tokyo and Beijing.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to compare attitudes toward medication and associated factors for patients with schizophrenia in Japan and China.


METHODS
Age-group matched samples were drawn from outpatients in Tokyo (N = 76) and Beijing (N = 76) according to the same inclusion/exclusion criteria. Psychotropic prescription and attitudes toward medication were measured using Drug Attitude Inventory-30 (DAI-30) and an original questionnaire regarding beliefs about psychiatric medication. Stepwise regression analysis of the DAI-30 data was performed for each group.


RESULTS
Japanese subjects were prescribed significantly larger amounts of antipsychotics. Polypharmacy of antipsychotics and concurrent use of anticholinergics, anxiolytics, or hypnotics were more frequently found among subjects in Tokyo than among those in Beijing. However, subjects in Tokyo and Beijing had similar subjective responses to medication, subjective evaluation of side-effects, and complaints about overuse of psychotropics. Subjects in Tokyo complained less about physician's over-reliance on medication and were less concerned about medication cost than those in Beijing. In Tokyo, longer duration of illness and lower subjective distress caused by side effects predicted a more positive subjective response, while female gender, younger age, and lower Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale score were independently correlated with a better subjective response in Beijing.


CONCLUSIONS
Subjective acceptance of multiple medications is greater for patients in Japan than those in China. Determinants of subjective response to medication varied between Japan and China.
Kuroda
Naoaki
N
Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8577, Japan. nk-samir@io.ocn.ne.jp
Sun
Shiyou
S
Lin
Chih-Kuang
CK
Morita
Nobuaki
N
Kashiwase
Hirotaka
H
Yang
Fude
F
Nakatani
Yoji
Y