TY - JOUR
T1 - Adherence and perceived barriers to oral antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B
AU - Xu, Kerui
AU - Liu, Li Ming
AU - Farazi, Paraskevi A.
AU - Wang, Hongmei
AU - Rochling, Fedja A.
AU - Watanabe-Galloway, Shinobu
AU - Zhang, Jian Jun
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - Background: Globally, of the 248 million people chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), 74 million reside in China. Five oral nucleot(s)ide analogs (NUCs) have been approved for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in China. Objectives: The aims of this study were to determine rates of adherence to NUC therapy in patients with CHB, to identify the self-perceived barriers to adherence, and to examine the factors associated with adherence. Methods: Questionnaire-based interviews were administered among Chinese patients with CHB at hepatology clinics of a tertiary hospital in the city of Wuhan, China. Adults aged 18 years or older prescribed with NUCs were recruited and interviewed to complete a 27-item questionnaire in a private setting, and adherence was measured using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8). Results: Among 369 participants, only 16.5% had high adherence (score of 8), 32.2% had medium adherence (score of 6 to <8), and 51.2% were measured with low adherence (score of <6). A logistic regression model was used to determine the factors associated with medication adherence. Significant predictors of high adherence consisted of urban residency, non-cirrhotic status, not using prescribed pills other than HBV medications, and reminders from family members. The five most common reasons for skipping NUCs were that medication(s) are expensive (48.7%), forgetfulness (45.1%), have experienced or worry about potential side effects (19.8%), do not want others to know about my medication(s) usage (18.5%), and ran out of pills and do not have time to refill (15.9%). Conclusions: This study revealed that adherence rates to oral antiviral therapy were far from optimal. This finding should generate public attention, and it would be beneficial for interventional programs to target Chinese patients from rural regions, as well as patients with low socioeconomic status, cirrhosis, and taking multiple medications.
AB - Background: Globally, of the 248 million people chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), 74 million reside in China. Five oral nucleot(s)ide analogs (NUCs) have been approved for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in China. Objectives: The aims of this study were to determine rates of adherence to NUC therapy in patients with CHB, to identify the self-perceived barriers to adherence, and to examine the factors associated with adherence. Methods: Questionnaire-based interviews were administered among Chinese patients with CHB at hepatology clinics of a tertiary hospital in the city of Wuhan, China. Adults aged 18 years or older prescribed with NUCs were recruited and interviewed to complete a 27-item questionnaire in a private setting, and adherence was measured using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8). Results: Among 369 participants, only 16.5% had high adherence (score of 8), 32.2% had medium adherence (score of 6 to <8), and 51.2% were measured with low adherence (score of <6). A logistic regression model was used to determine the factors associated with medication adherence. Significant predictors of high adherence consisted of urban residency, non-cirrhotic status, not using prescribed pills other than HBV medications, and reminders from family members. The five most common reasons for skipping NUCs were that medication(s) are expensive (48.7%), forgetfulness (45.1%), have experienced or worry about potential side effects (19.8%), do not want others to know about my medication(s) usage (18.5%), and ran out of pills and do not have time to refill (15.9%). Conclusions: This study revealed that adherence rates to oral antiviral therapy were far from optimal. This finding should generate public attention, and it would be beneficial for interventional programs to target Chinese patients from rural regions, as well as patients with low socioeconomic status, cirrhosis, and taking multiple medications.
KW - China
KW - Morisky Medication Adherence Scale
KW - chronic hepatitis B
KW - medication adherence
KW - nucleot(s)ide analogs
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U2 - 10.1080/16549716.2018.1433987
DO - 10.1080/16549716.2018.1433987
M3 - Article
C2 - 29447614
AN - SCOPUS:85042265817
SN - 1654-9716
VL - 11
JO - Global Health Action
JF - Global Health Action
IS - 1
M1 - 1433987
ER -