Medication adherence among Nigerian patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a two instruments survey

Objectives Medication adherence is still a significant problem in chronic diseases management and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is not an exception. There is very little information regarding the level and influencing factors of medication adherence among Nigerian patients with RA. This study evaluated the level and determinants of medication adherence among patients with RA in a Nigerian referral hospital. Methods Using a questionnaire based cross sectional survey, 169 patients with RA were evaluated for their medication adherence using two validated instruments namely; five-item Medication Adherence Report Scale and five-item Compliance Questionnaire for Rheumatology. The two instruments were subjected to descriptive (mean and frequencies) and mean difference (chi-square, t-test, Pearson correlation) analysis, and their reliability (Cronbach alpha) in a Nigerian setting was also established. Key findingsThe level of non-adherence reported in this study was high and ranged from 48.5% for the CQR to 63.9% for the Medication Adherence Report Scale questionnaires respectively. Being of a male gender, of an older age, the higher number of pills taken, better education and the duration of the disease all significantly contributed to higher adherence measures among these RA patients (P<0.05 for all). Both questionnaires used were correlated and reliable for use among patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Nigeria. Conclusion Findings from this study show that non adherence to medications among RA patients were high and factors such age, gender, education, pill burden could have been responsible.