Patient Characteristics and Adherence to Antidepressant Medication Treatment at PsychiatricOutpatient Department of Mardan Medical Complex, Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Adherence to antidepressant treatment is an important factor in the treatment and effective management of depressed patients. Characteristics of patients can help in determining compliance to treatment protocols. In order to find link between compliance and demographic characteristics of patients, insight can be obtained through exploration of these variables.Objectives: To determine the association between patient characteristics and antidepressant medication adherence. To identify characteristics of patients that may improve or worsen compliance to antidepressant medication. Material and Methods: This study was a descriptive, cross-sectional study aiming to find the link between personal characteristics and adherence to anti-depressant medications. The study was conducted at Psychiatry outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital, Mardan Medical Complex, Mardan Pakistan, from 05th September 2018 to 08th February 2021. Data was collected from 660 patients who presented with depressive symptoms to Psychiatry OPD. The main objective was to identify characteristics of patients leading to poor compliance to antidepressant medication. Results: Total study population was 660. Majority of the study population 82.9 % (n-549) were female. Uneducated were, 56.6 % (375), 81.1 % (n-537) were unemployed, and 65.9 % (n-436) were married. Follow up interviews were conducted in 316 (47.7 %) patients at 3rd week, 186 (28.1 %) patients at 6th week, 130 (19.6 %) patients at 9th week, 96 (14.5 %) patients at 12th week, and 31 (4.7 %) patients at 6 months. There was no significant difference found on the basis of patient characteristics and adherence. However, compliance was better among patients who had longer duration of illness. Conclusion: Medication adherence is a common problem among depressed patients and leads to impaired daily life functioning. Our study could not found any significant difference regarding patient characteristics among compliant and non compliant patients. Educating patients regarding the use of antidepressant medication treatment should be added to routine practice. Keywords: Anti depressants, Depression, Non-adherence, Poor compliance.