Abstract
AimThis study aimed to investigate the household medication-taking behavior and affordability of patients with chronic diseases in Gansu Province. As well as to propose suggestions to assist improvement of related policies.MethodsA multistage stratified cluster sampling technique was used to select the research sites and households according to the WHO manual for the “Household Survey to Measure Access and Use of Medicines”. The impact factors of medication-taking behavior were estimated using binary logistic regression models. Medication treatment affordability of hypertension patients was evaluated.ResultsA total of 1,080 completed questionnaires were collected, in which 690 families reported to have chronic patients in their home. The total number of chronic disease patients were 915. About 93% of the patient reported scheduled medicine intake. Approximately 86.60% of patients with chronic medical conditions were able to adhere to the physicians’ prescriptions. Age, gender, and the number of household chronic disease patients were the main factors influencing whether the patients take medication. Respondents’ self-reported monthly expenditure on household medicine accounted for 16.95% of their total monthly expenditure. The total cost of irbesartan and valsartan for hypertension treatment was two-fold higher than the minimum daily wage of the families.ConclusionThis study found that patients with chronic diseases have a high proportion of medication and medication compliance. However, family drug burden, especially for those living with hypertension are among the key challenges. Related policy needs to be revised to promote the affordability of medication under chronic conditions.
Highlights
Non-communicable chronic diseases are a series of diseases with a long-term, intricate treatment, high disability rate, and high medical expenses (Xiang and Li, 2004)
This study aimed to investigate household medication-taking behavior and the affordability for patients with chronic diseases in Gansu Province
This study explored household medication-taking behavior and the affordability of patients with chronic diseases in Gansu Province
Summary
Non-communicable chronic diseases are a series of diseases with a long-term, intricate treatment, high disability rate, and high medical expenses (Xiang and Li, 2004). Chronic diseases pose a serious threat to human health and cause a considerable burden on the social economy These diseases are common public health concerns and are one of the utmost threats worldwide (World Health Organization, 2000; World Health Organization, 2011; World Health Organization, 2013; Emmerick et al, 2015; Liao, 2018). The accessibility of household medicines has been good, but problems still exist, such as coverage of medical insurance and the use of antibiotics for acute diseases. These results showed that financial burden, medication safety with compliance, and the reserve of surplus drugs, are the main factors influencing medication usage behavior of chronic disease patients
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