Medication adherence among community-dwelling schizophrenia patients during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate medication adherence during the COVID-19 pandemic among community-dwelling schizophrenia patients, and to explore the role of social support in improving medication adherence in a rural community sample in China. METHODS: A cross-sectional sample of 800 patients was recruited using a cluster random sampling method in Yingshan County, Sichuan Province. Information on participant demographic characteristics, social support and medication adherence was collected through face-to-face interviews. The data analysis was performed using SAS9.4. Two binary logistic regression models were employed to identify the association between regular medication use and social support. RESULTS: The rate of regular medication adherence among community-dwelling patients with schizophrenia was 41.5%,which was lower than that indicated by recent research(Li et al., 2020) before COVID-19 in western rural China. The mean scores and standard deviation of the patient's objective support, subjective support, and support utilization were 4.94 ± 1.57, 17.03 ± 5.24, and 5.25 ± 2.75, respectively. The social support standard deviation was 27.22 ± 6.32. The crude odds ratio of objective support, subjective support, and support utilization were 0.790 (95%CI:0.713–0.876), 0.999 (95%CI:0.971–1.027), and 1.049 (95%CI:0.995–1.105) respectively. After adjusting for potential factors, the adjusted odds ratio of objective support, subjective support, and support utilization were 0.758 (95%CI:0.673–0.853), 1.030 (95%CI:0.994–1.068), and 1.043 (95%CI:0.985–1.105), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, community-dwelling schizophrenia patients had a low rate of regular medication adherence. This was particularly true of those who were older adults, less educated and living in rural areas. The results of this study suggest that strengthening social support may effectively improve medication adherence for those patients.