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. 2015 May 6;9:639–648. doi: 10.2147/PPA.S81612

Table 1.

Patient characteristics according to medication adherence categories

Patient characteristics Total patients, n (column %) Medication adherence score, n (row %) χ2 P-value*

Low (MMAS-8 <6) Medium and high (MMAS-8 6–8)
Health clinic 0.96 0.620
 Seri Kembangan 216 (32.3) 94 (43.5) 122 (56.5)
 Dengkil 121 (13.1) 47 (38.8) 74 (61.2)
 Salak 331 (49.3) 145 (43.8) 186 (56.2)
Age, years 9.18 0.010
 ≤50 174 (26.1) 88 (50.6) 86 (49.4)
 51–60 260 (39.0) 115 (44.2) 145 (55.8)
 >60 232 (34.8) 83 (35.8) 149 (64.2)
Diabetes duration, years 2.77 0.251
 <5 323 (50.0) 130 (40.2) 193 (59.8)
 5–9.9 183 (28.3) 78 (42.6) 105 (57.4)
 ≥10 140 (21.7) 68 (48.6) 72 (51.4)
Sex 0.24 0.638
 Female 359 (54.0) 157 (43.7) 202 (56.3)
 Male 306 (46.0) 128 (41.8) 178 (58.2)
Ethnicity 7.58 0.023
 Malay 351 (53.0) 158 (45.0) 193 (55.0)
 Chinese 155 (23.4) 73 (47.1) 82 (52.9)
 Indian 156 (23.6) 52 (33.3) 104 (66.7)
Religion 11.45 0.043
 No religion 32 (4.8) 11 (34.4) 21 (65.6)
 Moslem 359 (53.9) 161 (44.8) 198 (55.2)
 Buddhist 78 (11.7) 43 (55.1) 35 (44.9)
 Hinduism/Sikh 141 (21.2) 48 (34.0) 93 (66.0)
 Christian/Catholic 21 (3.2) 8 (38.1) 13 (61.9)
 Others 35 (5.3) 13 (37.1) 22 (62.9)
Religiosity 0.18 0.912
 Religious 567 (85.4) 242 (42.7) 325 (57.3)
 Unsure 24 (3.6) 10 (41.7) 14 (58.3)
 Not religious 73 (11.0) 33 (45.2) 40 (54.8)
Marital status 2.12 0.547
 Married/living with a partner 523 (78.8) 227 (43.4) 296 (56.6)
 Widowed 96 (14.5) 36 (37.5) 60 (62.5)
 Divorced/separated 19 (2.9) 10 (52.6) 9 (47.4)
 Single 26 (3.9) 10 (38.5) 16 (61.5)
Education 9.72 0.008
 Never 43 (6.5) 16 (37.2) 27 (62.8)
 Primary and secondary 542 (82.5) 222 (41.0) 320 (59.0)
 Tertiary 72 (11.0) 43 (59.7) 29 (40.3)
Employment 2.51 0.285
 Retired/home manager 356 (53.5) 144 (40.4) 212 (59.6)
 Employed 299 (45.0) 134 (44.8) 165 (55.2)
 Unemployed 10 (1.5) 6 (60.0) 4 (40.0)
Income (RM) 11.42 0.003
 <1,000 310 (47.1) 118 (38.1) 192 (61.9)
 1,000–2,999 310 (47.1) 138 (44.5) 172 (55.5)
 ≥3,000 38 (5.8) 25 (65.8) 13 (34.2)
Exercise 19.42 <0.0001
 No 283 (42.6) 114 (40.3) 169 (59.7)
 ≤3 times in a week 220 (33.1) 119 (54.1) 101 (45.9)
 >3 times in a week 161 (24.2) 52 (32.3) 109 (67.7)
Smoking 3.20 0.202
 Never 509 (76.5) 209 (41.1) 300 (58.9)
 Stopped >5 years 59 (8.9) 27 (45.8) 32 (54.2)
 Stopped ≤5 years and active smoker 97 (14.6) 49 (50.5) 48 (49.5)
Hypertension 0.48 0.502
 No 140 (21.3) 64 (45.7) 76 (54.3)
 Yes 516 (78.7) 219 (42.4) 297 (57.6)
Dyslipidemia 0.18 0.686
 No 381 (59.3) 167 (43.8) 214 (56.2)
 Yes 261 (40.7) 110 (42.1) 151 (57.9)
Any diabetes complication 0.27 0.635
 No 585 (87.7) 253 (43.2) 332 (56.8)
 Yes 82 (12.3) 33 (40.2) 49 (59.8)
Any microvascular complication 0.22 0.658
 No 617 (92.5) 263 (42.6) 354 (57.4)
 Yes 50 (7.5) 23 (46.0) 27 (54.0)
Any macrovascular complication 0.30 0.628
 No 622 (93.8) 270 (43.4) 352 (56.6)
 Yes 41 (6.2) 16 (39.0) 25 (61.0)
OHA 1.91 0.169
 No 58 (8.7) 30 (51.7) 28 (48.3)
 Yes 605 (91.3) 256 (42.3) 349 (57.7)
Insulin 0.51 0.777
 None 403 (60.9) 170 (42.2) 233 (57.8)
 1 type 183 (27.6) 81 (44.3) 102 (55.7)
 ≥2 types 76 (11.5) 35 (46.1) 41 (53.9)
Number of AHA agents 1.22 0.748
 None 80 (12.1) 35 (43.8) 45 (56.3)
 1 type 197 (29.8) 90 (45.7) 107 (54.3)
 2 types 191 (28.9) 83 (43.5) 108 (56.5)
 ≥3 types 194 (29.3) 78 (40.2) 116 (59.8)

Note:

*

Chi-square P-value.

Abbreviations: MMAS-8, 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale; OHA, oral hypoglycemic agent; AHA, antihypertensive agent; RM, Ringgit Malaysia.