Using Food Timing as an Intervention to Improve Medication Compliance

Abstract

Medication non-compliance is common among patients suffering from chronic disease. The research aims to find the effectiveness of food timing as a form of intervention to improve medication compliance. 509 patients were interviewed who were under the medication and had their treatment from Central Referral Hospital, Sikkim. The technique of probability estimates, risk difference, relative risk, and odds ratios were used to do the analysis and predictions of medication compliance when food timing was used as a form of reminder. Analysis of confidence interval at 95% ensured that the results obtained were due to the use of reminder and not by chance. The study reveals that with the help of food timing as a form of reminder, a patient has 50.2% lower odds of deferring from the scheduled time of medicine. There are 129.2% greater odds of completing the course of medication, 41.4% lower odds of missing the medication consciously, and there are 56.6% lower odds of missing the medication dose. The probability numbers indicate the effectiveness of usage of this form of reminder.