Open AccessSociodemographic factors influencing compliance of medication in an urban OPD setting
Author(s) -
Jayanti P Acharya,
Indranil Acharya
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of the scientific society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2278-7127
pISSN - 0974-5009
DOI - 10.4103/0974-5009.132842
Subject(s) - medicine , social class , compliance (psychology) , demography , outpatient clinic , pediatrics , family medicine , community health center , psychology , social psychology , sociology , political science , law
The present study was conducted with an aim to assess the relationship between major sociodemographic factors and compliance to prescribed drugs, amongst outpatients in an urban health center in a big city. A cross-sectional, community-based study was conducted in the city of Ahmedabad. Random sampling was used to include 250 cases, who were interviewed in an outpatient department (OPD) set-up, using a semistructured pretested proforma. Acute upper respiratory infections (20.8%) and fever (15.2%) were the most common diagnoses. These patients were followed-up for three revisits. Twenty-eight cases (11.2%) out of the 250 were lost to the study after two follow-ups. These were mostly in the younger age groups, female, in upper social class, and literate. Another startling revelation was that, a very high majority (86-96%) reported at later dates than when they were called to the health center. Analysis of certain sociodemographic characteristics revealed that most of the respondents were in the younger age groups with a female preponderance, had had some form of formal education, and were mostly in the social middle class. Scrutiny showed that while age, education, and social class had an almost inverse relationship with compliance, sex did not influence compliance