Necessity and concerns about lipid-lowering medical treatments and risk factors for non-adherence: A cross-sectional study in Palestine

dc.contributor.authorShakarneh, Jihad K.
dc.contributor.authorHallak, Hussein O.
dc.contributor.authorAwadallah, Heba B.
dc.contributor.authorAl-Hamed, Dua'a H.
dc.contributor.authorKhdour, Maher R.
dc.date.accessioned2020-08-08T13:06:49Z
dc.date.available2020-08-08T13:06:49Z
dc.date.issued2020-04-06
dc.description.abstractAims: Strong evidence indicates that drugs reduce blood lipids and improve cardiovascular end-points, leading to their wide usage. However, the success of these drugs can be affected by poor patient's adherence to prescribed medication. This study aimed to evaluate medication adherence in patients with dyslipidaemia in association with patient beliefs about medicines. Methods: The study was conducted from January 2019 to July 2019 at the middle governmental primary healthcare clinics in Ramallah and Bethlehem cities, and used a cross-sectional design. Adherence was determined using the 4-item Morisky medication adherence scale, while beliefs were determined using the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire. Results: Of 220 patients, 185 agreed to participate in the study, resulting in a response rate of 84.1%. Of the participants, 106 (57.3%) were men, and almost half (88, 46.5%) were ≥56 years. Medication non-adherence was high (47.6%), but a majority (65.5%) reported believing their treatment to be necessary for their continued good health. Accordingly, the mean necessity score (17.3, SD 3.7) significantly outweighed (P < .001) the mean concerns score (14.0, SD 3.5). Multivariate regression demonstrated four variables to be significantly correlated with non-adherence: illiterate (OR = 2.52; CI: 0.9-4.3; P = .03), polypharmacy (OR = 3.18; CI: 1.9-5.7; P = .007), having comorbidity (OR = 3.10; CI: 2.2-4.6; P = .005) and having concerns about side effects (OR = 2.89; CI: 1.1-4.6, P = .04). Conclusion: Non-adherence among patients taking lipid-lowering agents was high despite most holding positive beliefs regarding medication necessity. This may be due to concern also being high. Physicians should identify and target high-risk patients and individualise their treatment plans in order to achieve adequate control of dyslipidaemia.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipWe thank all workers at health clinics at Ramallah and Bethlehem who helped in finishing this study and also we thank the participants who willingly accepted to share for the purpose of this study.en_US
dc.identifier.citationShakarneh JK, Hallak HO, Awadallah HB, Al-Hamed DH, Khdour MR. Necessity and concerns about lipid-lowering medical treatments and risk factors for non-adherence: A cross-sectional study in Palestine. Int J Clin Pract. 2020;00:e13511. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcp.13511en_US
dc.identifier.issn1742-1241
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.alquds.edu/handle/20.500.12213/5733
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherJohn Wiley & Sons Ltden_US
dc.titleNecessity and concerns about lipid-lowering medical treatments and risk factors for non-adherence: A cross-sectional study in Palestineen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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