#1462 Dialysis symptoms relation with medication beliefs and medication compliance in dialysis patients

Abstract Background and Aims Non-compliance with drug therapy is an important problem in patients receiving dialysis treatment and can cause an increase in healthcare costs, morbidity and mortality, and may make it difficult to improve symptoms in patients. Many studies have been conducted to evaluate medication compliance and thoughts about medication in hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis patients, but we have not encountered many examples in the literature that evaluate these two groups mutually. The aim of our study is to determine medication compliance and medication confidence in dialysis patients and its relationship with dialysis symptoms. Method A total of 460 patients, 379 receiving hemodialysis and 81 peritoneal dialysis treatments from 5 different centers, were included in the study. It is a cross-sectional study. BMQ (Medication Beliefs Scale), MARS-5 (Medication Compliance Report Scale) and DSI (Dialysis Symptom Index) questionnaires were administered to the participants face to face and the data were recorded. Other demographic and clinical data were obtained from patient files and recorded. Patient data were analyzed in R (version 4.2.2). Results 55% (n:255) of the patients included in the study were male. The total MARS-5 score of HD patients was 23.7 (SD = 2.44), and the total MARS-5 score of PD patients was 23.64 (SD = 2.4) (P = 0.35). Most of all patients (71% n:329) had good medication compliance (MARS-5 total score > 23), while a minority of patients (29% n:131) had poor medication compliance (MARS-5 total score ≤ 23) (P = 0.001). In the BMQ survey, the majority of all patients (95% n:438) had positive thoughts about drugs (BMQ1-BMQ2 score > 0), and a very small number (5% n:22) had negative thoughts about drugs (BMQ1-BMQ2 score ≤ 0) (P = 0.001). The mean BMQ1-BMQ2 score of patients with good medication compliance was found to be higher at 17.1 (SD = 5.7) (P = 0.001). The mean MARS-5 total score was found to be higher in patients with positive thoughts about medications, at 23.8 (SD = 2.3) (P = 0.001). The most common symptom was fatigue (78% n:361). Other most common symptoms are muscle cramps (69% n:316), feeling sad (62% n:286), itching (59% n:271), sleep problems (54% n:249), constipation (52% n:238), nausea (43% n:238). Nausea (P = 0.001) and involuntary movements in the legs (P = 0.002) were less common in the group with good medication compliance. Itching (P = 0.002) and leg swelling (P = 0.007) were less common in the group with positive thoughts about the drug. Conclusion While medication compliance was evaluated as good in the majority of patients in our study, it is noteworthy that patients with good medication compliance had more positive thoughts about medications. In addition, the fact that some symptoms are less common in those with better medication compliance confirms the effectiveness of medication compliance in treatment. There is no significant difference between hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients in terms of medication compliance, medication-related beliefs and symptom burden. Keywords: dialysis, medication compliance, beliefs about medication