Assessment of medication adherence, quality of life and risk factors among patients with tuberculosis in a South Indian tertiary care hospital: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The main objective of the current study was to assess the level of medication adherence, quality of life, risk factors for better treatment outcomes and to improve patient quality of life by giving TB education. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on 278 patients (139 tubercular patients and 139 health volunteers). A data collection form of various socio-demographic factors, lifestyle factors, and co-morbid conditions for tuberculosis were collected. The quality of life (QOL) was assessed by interviewing the subjects using WHO-QOL BREF questionnaire. Morisky – 8 item medication Adherence Questionnaire was used for assessing adherence. Results: In a total of 139 TB patients, high adherence (60.06%), medium adherence (20.86%) and low adherence (10.07%) are reported. WHOQOL-BREF mean domain scores were physical health (54.10±12.33), psychological health (51.73±16.24), social health (62.04±15.35) and environmental health (57.14±16.90) respectively. In present study male (67.63%) are higher than females (32.37%). Risk factors observed in study were statistically significant and discussed in present study. Conclusions: This study showed that the MMAS-8 had good reliability and validity for measuring adherence levels in rural TB patients. There was a high level of adherence to anti-TB treatment was seen in study area. WHO-QOL BREF questionnaire had good reliability and validity for measuring quality of life and Improved quality of life observed in patients with high adherence to anti tubercular drugs. Risk factors such as age, education, locality, food habits, income, smoking and alcoholism are independently associated with Tuberculosis.