Determinants of non-adherence among tuberculosis patients on treatment at Mbagathi County Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya

Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of mortality globally. Non-adherence leadsto development of drug resistance, treatment failure and relapse, increasedtransmission of the bacilli and prolonged morbidity and mortality. A cross-sectionalstudy with a sample of 138 participants, selected by simple random sampling,interviewed using a structured questionnaire was implemented. Telephoneinterviews on patients who were identified as lost to follow up was conducted. Datawas populated in an Excel sheet and analyzed descriptively and inferentially vialogistic regression using Stata version 13 software. A total of 137 tuberculosispatients was enrolled, two thirds of whom were males, with a median age of 32 (IQR25,42). The prevalence of non-adherence was 7.30% (n=10). Medication complexity(aOR 14.67, 95% CI 2.44-88.07, p =0.003) and forgetting to take medications (aOR9.11, 95% CI 1.16-71.54, p =0.036) were the main determinants associated with nonadherence.Attention should be devoted to these factors by finding means to helppatients remember to take their medications and adopting fixed dose combinationsand pill organizers to reduce medication complexity.