Assessment of Immunosuppressive Therapy Adherence in Transplantation Patients

Abstract

Introduction: In the post-transplant period, patients should use immunosuppressive drugs regularly and correctly throughout their lives to prevent rejection. Objectives: This descriptive study was conducted to determine adherence to immunosuppressive therapy in renal, liver and heart transplant patients. Materials and Methods: The study sample consisted of 60 patients who underwent renal, liver, and heart transplantation and follow-up visits at a foundation university hospital. Data was collected by face-to-face interviews with transplantation patients. The immunosuppressive drugs used by the patients were compared from the hospital records and their compliance with the immunosuppressive treatment plan was determined. Descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation coefficient, Chi-squared, and Fisher Exact tests were used for data evaluation. Results: In the study, renal transplantation was performed in 46.7% of the patients, liver transplantation in 36.7%, heart transplantation in 13.3%, and simultaneous renal-liver transplantation in 3.3%. All patients received immunosuppressive therapy and therapy adherence rate was 86.7%. A significant positive correlation was found between the total number of immunosuppressive drugs and the number of drugs used in line with the treatment plan (p<0.001). All patients had used immunosuppressive drugs regularly, 40.0% had the factors affecting regular drug use, and the first two factors were as follows: forgetting to use immunosuppressive drugs (70.8%), and inappropriate drug hours (25.0%). Conclusion: The results showed that the patients should be evaluated regularly in terms of immunosuppressive therapy adherence and nonadherence factors in the post-transplantation period. Programs should be developed.