Adherence to Drug Medications amongst Tuberculosis Patients in a Tertiary Health Institution in South East Nigeria

Tuberculosis remains one of the major health problems in many tropical countries. An estimated eight to ten million people develop overt tuberculosis annually worldwide as a result of primary infection, endogenous reactivation or exogenous re-infection. About half of all patients with TB do not complete treatment and this contributes to prolonged infectiousness, drug resistance, relapse and death. This study is aimed at assessing the adherence of TB patients to anti-TB medications as well as the factors influencing drug adherence in a tertiary health care institution in South-Eastern Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 217 TB patients in Nnamdi Azi-kiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi. Information was obtained using a self-administered and interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire. The mean age of the respondents is 36.1 ± 13.3 years. More of the respondents were females (58.1%), while 41.9% were males. It was observed that 74.2% had never failed to take their anti-TB drugs while 24.2% agreed they had failed to take their drugs. The major reasons for failure to take drugs were no money for transport to collect new drugs and forgetfulness by 32.7% of the respondents respectively. The factors which influenced drug adherence were educational qualification, average monthly income, ill-health as a financial burden and receiving HIV drugs (P < 0.05). Adherence towards anti-TB medications is good. However, efforts need to be intensified to educate and encourage TB patients to adhere strictly to their drugs as this will be of great value to them and the community at large.