Adherence to drug treatment among schizophrenic patients in Jigawa State, Nigeria

Schizophrenia is among the most common psychiatric disorders, affecting approximately 1% of the world’s population and is among the leading cause of disability. Adherence to drug therapy is associated with favourable clinical outcomes and good quality of life among schizophrenic patients undergoing treatment. This study assessed the prevalence and factors responsible for adherence/non-adherence to drug treatment among schizophrenic patients in Jigawa State. We used a descriptive hospital-based cross-sectional study design and recruited three hundred and ninety-nine patients using multi-stage sampling technique. The mean and standard deviation of age of the respondents was 42.3±11.2. The level of drug adherence was 47.1%. On bivariate analysis, cost of treatment, types of treatment, side effects, and effects of treatment on the performance were found to be associated with low adherence of drugs treatment (P<0.05). On adjusting for confounding effect using logistic regression analysis, the cost of treatment of more than one thousand naira per day (AOR=3.00, 95%CI=2.75-8.83) and presence of side effects (AOR=4.01, 95%CI=1.45-16.09) were found to be predictors of non-adherence to drug treatments. Supervised community treatment, behavioural change communications along with community mental health care financing were recommended in order to increase access and decrease non-adherence to drugs.