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Published on: November 21, 2013
Medication adherence and its correlates among patients affected by schizophrenia with an episodic course: A
Dongfang Wang1, Brendan Ross2, Chang Xi3
1Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China; National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, National Technology Institute on Mental Disorders, Hunan Medical Center for Mental Health, Hunan Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Changsha, Hunan, China; Mental Health Institute of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China; Centre for Studies of Psychological Applications, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Educational Science, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Abstract:
The Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) is a fast, non-intrusive way of measuring adherence to medication in order to improve the management of patients with schizophrenia. The current cross-sectional study evaluated the reliability of the Chinese (Mandarin) version of the MARS and explored clinical and demographic correlates to medication adherence in a large sample of patients affected by schizophrenia with an episodic course in China. 1198 patients were recruited from 37 different hospitals in 17 provinces/municipalities of China and evaluated with the Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS), Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness (CGI-SI) and Sheehan Disability Scale-Chinese version (SDS-C). The MARS showed good internal consistency; Cronbach's alpha of total MARS was 0.83. Among the cohort of patients affected by schizophrenia with an episodic course, 28.5 % met the criteria of good adherence to antipsychotic medication; age, steady income, and severity of illness had significant effects on medication adherence. Medication adherence of patients affected by schizophrenia in mainland China was found to be relatively low, calling for urgent attention and intervention. Risk factors for non-adherence to medication among patients affected by schizophrenia with an episodic course include older age, unsteady income, being in the acute period of the disease, and severity of illness.
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