Table 3.
Stated reasons for medication non-compliance by medication adherence trajectory.
| Reason | Overall (n=955) | T1: Early non-adherers (n=145) | T2: Late non-adherers (n=195) | T3: Adherers (n=615) | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | ||
| Forgetting | 843(88.27) | 91(62.76) | 167(85.64) | 585(95.12) | <.0001 |
| Adverse Events | 184(19.27) | 58(40) | 54(27.69) | 72(11.71) | <.0001 |
| Benefit | 47(4.92) | 11(7.59) | 15(7.69) | 21(3.41) | 0.015 |
| Expectancies | 29(3.04) | 12(8.28) | 9(4.62) | 8(1.3) | <.0001 |
| Number of pills | 31(3.25) | 7(4.83) | 9(4.62) | 15(2.44) | 0.17 |
| Other intentional nonadherence | 89(9.32) | 17(11.72) | 32(16.41) | 40(6.5) | 0.0001 |
Stated reasons for medication no-adherence were based on responses on the Medication Non-Compliance Checklist:
Adverse events = 1 if subject reported physical or mental side effects, 0 otherwise
Benefit = 1 if subject believed being cured, reported being impatient waiting for meds to work so took more than prescribed, thought taking active medication but not helping, or thought taking placebo; 0 otherwise
Forgetting = 1 if subject forgot to take medications, didn’t have access to medications, ran out of pills, lost pills or misunderstood instructions; 0 otherwise
Number of pills = 1 if subject reported that there are too many pills to take at one time or too many times each day to take pills; 0 otherwise
Expectancies = 1 if subject reported misconception about medications, being uneasy about pill taking, medications not best treatment for alcoholism or medications best for severe alcoholism but own case not severe enough; 0 otherwise
Other Intentional Non-adherence = 1 if subject wanted to drink or take illicit drugs and not mix pills or wanted to test need for medications; 0 otherwise