Medication compliance and its influencing factors among tuberculosis patients in poverty-stricken counties in Ningxia

Objective To investigate the status and influencing factors of medication compliance among tuberculosis(TB)patients in poverty-stricken counties in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region(Ningxia)and to provide references for improving medication compliance of TB patients.Methods With cluster sampling,a questionnaire survey was conducted among 554 TB patients registered between June 1,2012 to July 30,2013 in 6 poverty-stricken counties in Ningxia(Haiyuan,Yanchi,Pengyang,Xiji,Longde,and Tongxin).Results Of the patients,420(77.2%)had regular medication;54(9.9%)had intermittent medication;and 67(12.3%)had interrupted medication.The top three reasons for the TB patients having intermittent medication were adverse drug reactions(42.6%),forgetting to take the medicine because of busy work(27.8%),and self-perceived significant improvement of the illness(18.5%);the top three reasons for the TB patients having interrupted medication were drug adverse reactions(41.8%),self-perceived significant improvement of the illness(22.4%),and self-assessed ineffectiveness of the medication(12.0%).Multivariate unconditioned logistic regression analysis revealed that the patients with good health condition before the incident of TB and with family members supervising the medication were more likely to have good medication compliance but those with bad familial economic condition were more likely to have poor medication compliance.Conclusion Medication compliance is relatively poor and mainly influenced by familial economic condition,health status before the TB incident,and whether the medication being under the supervision of other persons among TB patients in poverty-stricken counties in Ningxia.