Relationship between Treatment Burden, Health Literacy, and Medication Adherence in Older Adults Coping with Multiple Chronic Conditions
Author:
Selvakumar Dharrshinee1, Sivanandy Palanisamy2ORCID, Ingle Pravinkumar Vishwanath2ORCID, Theivasigamani Kumutha3
Affiliation:
1. School of Postgraduate Studies, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia 2. Department of Pharmacy Practice, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia 3. Department of Pharmacy Practice, Nanda College of Pharmacy, Erode 638052, India
Abstract
A prospective study was conducted to investigate the impact of treatment burden and health literacy on medication adherence among older adults with multiple chronic conditions (MCC) and to explore the potential moderating effects of demographic and clinical factors. Face-to-face structured interviews were conducted among older adults aged 60 and above using the Burden of Treatment Questionnaire (TBQ-15), Short Form Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLS-SF12), and Malaysia Medication Adherence Assessment Tool (MyMAAT). This study included 346 older adults aged 60 years and above with two or more chronic conditions (n = 346). Hypertension (30.2%), hyperlipidemia (24.0%), and diabetes (18.0%) were the most reported chronic conditions among participants. The mean score of treatment burden was 53.4 (SD = 28.2), indicating an acceptable burden of treatment. The mean score of health literacy was 16.4 (SD = 12.6), indicating a limited health literacy level among participants; meanwhile, the mean score of medication adherence was 32.6 (SD = 12.3), indicating medication non-adherence among participants. Medication adherence was significantly correlated with treatment burden (r = −0.22, p < 0.0001), health literacy (r = 0.36, p < 0.0001), number of chronic conditions (r = −0.23, p < 0.0001), and age (r = −0.11, p < 0.05). The study findings emphasize that multimorbid older adults with high treatment burdens and low health literacy are more likely to have poor medication adherence. This underscores the importance for clinicians to address these factors in order to improve medication adherence among older adults with multiple chronic conditions (MCC).
Funder
International Medical University International Medical University, Malaysia
Reference84 articles.
1. Shariff Ghazali, S., Seman, Z., Zainuddin, N.H., Omar, M.A., Sooryanarayana, R., Ariaratnam, S., Tohit, N.M., Ho, B.K., Krishnapillai, A.D., and Abidin, S.I.Z. (2021). Prevalence and factors associated with multimorbidity among older adults in Malaysia: A population-based cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 11. 2. Multimorbidity and functional decline in community-dwelling adults: A systematic review;Ryan;Health Qual. Life Outcomes,2015 3. Burden of treatment for chronic illness: A concept analysis and review of the literature;Sav;Health Expect.,2015 4. Treatment burden and chronic illness: Who is at most risk?;Sav;Patient,2016 5. Dineen-Griffin, S., Garcia-Cardenas, V., Williams, K., and Benrimoj, S.I. (2019). Helping patients help themselves: A systematic review of self-management support strategies in primary health care practice. PLoS ONE, 14.
|
|