| Title |
Primary non-adherence in Portugal: findings and implications
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, April 2015
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s11096-015-0108-1 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Filipa Alves da Costa, Ana Rita Pedro, Inês Teixeira, Fátima Bragança, José Aranda da Silva, José Cabrita |
| Abstract |
Background Portugal is currently facing a serious economic and financial crisis, which is dictating some important changes in the health care sector. Some of these measures may potentially influence patients' access to medication and consequently adherence, which will ultimately impact on health status, especially in chronic patients. Aims This study aimed at providing a snapshot of adherence in patients with chronic conditions in Portugal between March and April 2012. Setting Community pharmacy in Portugal. Method A cross-sectional pilot study was undertaken, where patients were recruited via community pharmacies to a questionnaire study evaluating the number of prescribed and purchased drugs and, when these figures were inconsistent, the reasons for this. Main outcome measures Primary and secondary adherence measures. Failing to purchase prescription items was categorized as primary nonadherence. Secondary nonadherence was attributed to purchasing prescription items, but not taking medicines as prescribed. Results Data were collected from 375 patients. Primary nonadherence was identified in 22.8 % of patients. Regardless of the underlying condition, the most commonly reported reason for primary non-adherence was having spare medicines at home ("leftovers"), followed by financial problems. The latter appeared to be related to the class of medicines prescribed. Primary non-adherence was associated with low income (<475 <euro>/month; p = 0.026). Secondary non-adherence, assessed by the 7-MMAS was detected in over 50 % of all patients, where unintentional nonadherence was higher than intentional nonadherence across all disease conditions. Conclusion This study revealed that more than one fifth of chronic medication users report primary nonadherence (22.8 %) and more than 50 % report secondary nonadherence. Data indicates that the existence of spare medicines and financial constraints occurred were the two most frequent reasons cited for nonadherence (47, 6-64, 8 and 19-45.5 %, depending on the major underlying condition, respectively). |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 109 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1 | <1% |
| Portugal | 1 | <1% |
| Cyprus | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 106 | 97% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 30 | 28% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 14 | 13% |
| Student > Bachelor | 14 | 13% |
| Researcher | 11 | 10% |
| Librarian | 4 | 4% |
| Other | 13 | 12% |
| Unknown | 23 | 21% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 25 | 23% |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 23 | 21% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 10 | 9% |
| Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 5 | 5% |
| Psychology | 3 | 3% |
| Other | 12 | 11% |
| Unknown | 31 | 28% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 November 2016.
All research outputs
#7,212,612
of 22,797,621 outputs
Outputs from International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
#433
of 1,079 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#86,142
of 263,845 outputs
Outputs of similar age from International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
#10
of 23 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,797,621 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 67th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,079 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.4. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 59% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 263,845 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 66% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 23 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 56% of its contemporaries.