Medication-Related Burden among Patients with Chronic Disease Conditions: Perspectives of Patients Attending Non-Communicable Disease Clinics in a Primary Healthcare Setting in Qatar

Abstract

This study aimed to assess perceived medication-related burden among patients with multiple non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and to investigate the association between perceived burden and adherence to medication therapy. Using a cross-sectional study in three primary care clinics in Qatar, medication-related burden was measured using the Living with Medicines Questionnaire (LMQ) among adults with diabetes, with or without other comorbidities. Adherence was measured using the Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale (ARMS). Two hundred and ninety-three eligible patients participated in the study. The majority of them reported experiencing minimal (66.8%) to moderate (24.1%) medication-related burden. There was a significant positive correlation between the scores of the LMQ (medication-related burden) and ARMS (medication adherence), rs (253) = 0.317, p < 0.0005.

Medication-Related Burden and Medication Adherence Among Geriatric Patients in Kuwait: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…However, these comparisons should be considered with caution due to the differences in the methodologies and health systems. Our present findings revealed that the vast majority of the study population reported experiencing minimal (35.4%) to moderate (62.0%) degrees of MRB, which is different from that reported in Qatar, minimal (66.8%) to moderate (24.1%) and in England, minimal (33.1%) to moderate (53.6%) degrees of burden, respectively (Zidan et al, 2018;Krska et al, 2019). This may be due to the differences among the study populations, both studies assessed MRB among patients aged ≥ 18 years.…”

“…than those aged 65-74 years old. This finding is in contrast to the Qatari and English studies, which reported that LMQ overall scores were not strongly related to age (Katusiime et al, 2018;Zidan et al, 2018), and another English study that showed a significantly lower mean LMQ overall scores among elderly patients (≥ 65 years) compared with adult patients (18-64 years) and a nonsignificant difference among the older patient groups, 65-79 years vs. ≥ 80 years (Krska et al, 2018). The possible explanation for the high burden among respondents aged ≥75 years may be due to their significantly higher scores in two domains related to communication/relationships with healthcare professionals about medicines and perceived effectiveness of medicines, which revealed their poorer quality relationships with healthcare professionals and less satisfaction with medication effectiveness.…”

“…The current results showed that 54.7% of participants had a low level of MA (ARMS scores of ≥ 20), which is consistent with that reported by a study performed in Korea among elderly patients (52.5%) (Jin et al, 2016), but lower than that indicated in Qatar (84%) among patients aged ≥ 18 years with only 12.6% of them aged ≥ 65 years (Zidan et al, 2018). The prevalence that over half of participants were nonadherent to their long-term medicines is of specific concern as a factor potentially leading to poor clinical outcomes, resulting in rehospitalization, increased mortality, and increased healthcare expenditures (Sokol et al, 2005;Simpson et al, 2006).…”

“…This may be due to the differences among the study populations, both studies assessed MRB among patients aged ≥ 18 years. In the present study, the median (IQR) LMQ overall score of respondents was 112 (21), which is a moderate burden and greater than the minimum burden reported by the studies conducted in Qatar (95) and England (99.7) (Krska et al, 2018;Zidan et al, 2018). Also, the current findings revealed that the assessment of the global burden by the VAS score was 5, which is higher than score of 3 reported in Qatar (Zidan et al, 2018).…”

“…The median LMQ overall score for Kuwaiti nationals was significantly lower, revealing less MRB compared with non-Kuwaiti residents. In contrast, the median LMQ overall score for Qatari nationals was significantly higher, representing worse medication burden than non-Qataris (Zidan et al, 2018), and there was no significant difference dependent on ethnicity in the English study (Krska et al, 2018). The main explanation of high burden among non-Kuwaiti residents is the fact that they are paying prescription charges.…”