Table 3. Prevalence of low adherencea,b to treatment for chronic diseases by adults aged 20 or over in Brazil, by characteristics related to health care, health perception, morbidities and drug use. PNAUM, Brazil, 2014. (N = 11,842).

Variable	Sample breakdown		Prevalence of low adherence
	%	95%IC	%	95%IC
Health system characteristics
Visits doctor to treat chronic diseases
Yes	93.3	92.3–94.2	31.2	29.0–33.5
No	6.7	5.8–7.7	32.3	27.9–37.0
Number of doctors visited to treat chronic diseases
One	68.2	66.3–70.0	27.2	24.9–29.6
More than one	31.8	30.0–33.7	40.1	37.2–43.2
Free access to chronic drug therapy for chronic diseases
All free	46.9	44.5–49.2	25.4	23.0–28.1
Any free	20.3	19.1–21.5	46.6	42.7–50.7
None free	32.9	30.8–35.1	29.0	26.5–31.7
Number of hospitalizations in the previous 12 months
None	89.1	88.2–90.0	29.8	27.7–32.1
1	8.2	7.5–9.0	34.6	29.8–39.8
2 or more	2.7	2.2–3.2	51.8	42.7–60.9
Number of emergency visits in the previous 12 months
None	77.0	75.3–78.6	27.1	25.0–29.3
1	14.9	13.8–16.0	39.8	36.2–43.7
2 or more	8.1	7.2–9.1	50.0	44.6–55.4
Self-perceived health and morbidities
Self-perceived health
Very good	5.1	4.4–5.9	17.2	11.4–25.1
Good	45.6	43.6–47.6	25.0	22.6–27.7
Average	40.8	39.1–42.4	35.9	33.4–38.5
Poor	6.3	5.6–7.0	46.4	41.1–51.7
Very poor	2.3	1.9–2.7	49.6	39.7–59.5
Number of chronic diseases (comorbidities)
1	44.8	42.9–46.7	20.9	18.8–23.1
2	27.2	26.1–28.4	33.3	30.6–36.1
3 or more	28.0	26.3–29.7	44.2	41.0–47.4
Limitations due to chronic disease
No limitations	48.5	46.7–50.3	21.9	19.9–24.1
Limitations	51.5	49.7–53.3	39.5	36.9–42.2
Use of drugs
Number of drugs used (continuous or occasional)
1	34.6	33.2–36.0	20.6	18.2–23.2
2	26.0	24.7–27.3	26.4	23.8–29.2
3 to 4	26.0	24.8–27.3	38.9	35.6–42.4
5 or more	13.4	12.5–14.4	50.1	46.4–53.8
Total			30.8	28.8–33.0

^a Percentage adjusted by sample weighting and post-stratification by age and gender.

^b Non-adherence = low adherence according to the Brief Medication Questionnaire BMQ (2 or more positive answers).