Open Access Research article

Does treatment adherence correlates with health related quality of life? findings from a cross sectional study

Fahad Saleem1*, Mohamed A Hassali2, Asrul A Shafie2, George A Awad3, Muhammad Atif4, Noman ul Haq1, Hisham Aljadhey5 and Maryam Farooqui6

Author Affiliations

1 Department of Pharmacy, University of Baluchistan, Quetta, Pakistan/PhD candidate, Discipline of Social & Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, 11800, Penang, Malaysia

2 Discipline of Social & Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, 11800, Penang, Malaysia

3 Humber River Regional Hospital, 2175 Keele Street, Suite 243A, Toronto, Ontario, M6M 3Z4, Canada

4 School of Pharmacy, Allianze University, College of Medical Sciences, Kepala Batas, 13200, Penang, Malaysia

5 College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

6 Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Bertam, 13200, Penang, Malaysia

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BMC Public Health 2012, 12:318 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-318

Published: 30 April 2012

Abstract

Background

Although medication adherence and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are two different outcome measures, it is believed that adherence to medication leads to an improvement in overall HRQoL. The study aimed to evaluate the association between medication adherence and HRQoL.

Methods

A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study design was undertaken with hypertension patients attending public hospitals in Quetta city, Pakistan. HRQoL was measured by Euroqol EQ-5D. Medication adherence was assessed by the Drug Attitude Inventory. Descriptive statistics was used to tabulate demographic and disease-related information. Spearmans correlation was used to assess the association between the study variables. All analysis was performed using SPSS 17.0.

Results

Among 385 study patients, the mean age (SD) was 39.02 (6.59), with 68.8% of males dominating the entire cohort. The mean (SD) duration of hypertension was 3.010.939years. Forty percent (n=154) had a bachelors degree level of education with 34.8% (n=134) working in the private sector. A negative and weak correlation (0.77) between medication adherence and EQ-5D was reported. In addition, a negative weak correlation (0.120) was observed among medication adherence and EQ-VAS.

Conclusions

Correlations among the study variables were negligible and negative. Hence, there is no apparent relationship between the variables.

Keywords:
Medication adherence; Health related quality of life; Association; Hypertension