Abstract
In the present study, medication adherence and factors affecting adherence were examined in patients taking oral anticancer agents. In June 2013, 172 outpatients who had been prescribed oral anticancer agents by Ogaki Municipal Hospital (Ogaki, Gifu, Japan) completed a questionnaire survey, with answers rated on a five-point Likert scale. The factors that affect medication adherence were evaluated using a customer satisfaction (CS) analysis. For patients with good and insufficient adherence to medication, the median ages were 66 years (range, 21–85 years) and 73 years (range, 30–90 years), respectively (P=0.0004), while the median dosing time was 131 days (range, 3–3,585 days) and 219 days (24–3,465 days), respectively (P=0.0447). In 36.0% (62 out of 172) of the cases, there was insufficient medication adherence; 64.5% of those cases (40 out of 62) showed good medication compliance (4–5 point rating score). However, these patients did not fully understand the effects or side-effects of the drugs, giving a score of three points or less. The percentage of patients with good medication compliance was 87.2% (150 out of 172). Through the CS analysis, three items, the interest in the drug, the desire to consult about the drug and the condition of the patient, were extracted as items for improvement. Overall, the medication compliance of the patients taking the oral anticancer agents was good, but the medication adherence was insufficient. To improve medication adherence, a better understanding of the effectiveness and necessity of drugs and their side-effects is required. In addition, the interest of patients in their medication should be encouraged and intervention should be tailored to the condition of the patient. These steps should lead to improved medication adherence.
Highlights
Medication adherence is often defined as follows: Subsequent to sufficient explanation of the effects and side‐effects of medication, the patient agrees to be treated with the medication, understands the significance of the medication and continues to take the medication voluntarily [1]
It is important that the patient understands the effects of the prescribed drugs, the side‐effects and the methods to assuage these, and that they understand that medication adherence can lead to effective treatment, safety and continuity in cancer chemotherapy
It may be that differences in medication adherence rates depend largely on the survey method
Summary
Medication adherence is often defined as follows: Subsequent to sufficient explanation of the effects and side‐effects of medication, the patient agrees to be treated with the medication, understands the significance of the medication and continues to take the medication voluntarily [1]. Cancer treatment through oral anticancer agents has the advantage of ease of delivery, but since medication management is left to the family or patient, medication adherence can be a problem. It is important that the patient understands the effects of the prescribed drugs, the side‐effects and the methods to assuage these, and that they understand that medication adherence can lead to effective treatment, safety and continuity in cancer chemotherapy. Research into medication adherence in patients taking oral anticancer agents has generally focused on a specific disease, such as chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or breast cancer, and the disease-specific medicine [4,5,6,7,8]. A questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate the factors that affect medication adherence in patients taking oral anticancer agents. The results of the survey were explored using a customer satisfaction (CS) analysis
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