title: Medication adherence among patients in a chronic disease clinic.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess motivation and knowledge domains of medication adherence intention, and to determine their predictors in an ambulatory setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional survey study among patients attending a chronic disease clinic at the Family and Community Medicine Department, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia between June and September 2010. Adherence intention was assessed using Modified Morisky Scale. Predictors of low motivation and/or knowledge were determined using logistic regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 347 patients were interviewed during the study duration. Most patients (75.5%) had 2 or more chronic diseases with an average of 6.3 +/- 2.3 medications, and 6.5 +/- 2.9 pills per prescription. The frequency of adherence intention was low (4.6%), variable (37.2%), and high (58.2%). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, younger age and having asthma were significantly associated with low motivation, while male gender, single status, and not having hypertension were significantly associated with low knowledge. Single status was the only independent predictor of low adherence intention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a population with multiple chronic diseases and high illiteracy rate, more than 40% had low/variable intention to adhere to prescribed medications. Identifying predictors of this group may help in providing group-specific interventional programs.
authors.affiliation: Family and Community Medicine Department, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. aylatourkmani@gmail.com
authors.forename: Ayla M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tourkmani
authors.forename: Hisham I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Al Khashan
authors.forename: Monirah A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Albabtain
authors.forename: Turki J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Al Harbi
authors.forename: Hala B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Al Qahatani
authors.forename: Ahmed H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Bakhiet
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance