Abstract
Purpose: To find the relationship between depression, treatment adherence and lifestyle changes in chronically-ill patients residing in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from patients of multi-healthcare centers located in Jeddah. The questionnaire aimed to collect the information regarding patients' levels of medication compliance, patients' capacity to cope with the disease and adherence to medication, along with their depression level.
Results: Of the overall sample size of 439 patients, 43.1 % were suffering from hypertension, 37.8 % were diabetic and 33.7 % had hyperlipidemia. Besides, total scores of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) showed that approximately 5 % patients were severely depressed, 8 % had moderately severe depression, 27 % had moderate depression, and 60 % had mild depression. Compliance scale data revealed that 38 % patients showed low compliance, 51 % showed partial compliance, and 11 % showed high compliance. Also, a significant inverse relationship between depression and compliance scales (rs = -0.221, p = 0.004) was observed.
Conclusion: The results show an inverse association between depression and medication adherence in patients with chronic disease in Jeddah. Therefore, clinicians are advised to assess the level of depression in chronically-ill patients in order to improve their adherence to medicine.