Factors Affecting Adherence to Phosphate-binding Medications among Patients with End-stage Kidney Disease in Makkah City

Despite the evidence that the management of hyperphosphatemia depends heavily on adherence to phosphate-binding (PB) medications, many dialysis patients are non-adherent. Therefore, factors associated with non-adherence to PB medications should be identified and eliminated. This study aimed to identify and highlight factors influencing adherence to PB medications among patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the hemodialysis centers of three major governmental hospitals in Makkah City, Saudi Arabia. The World Health Organization's five dimensions of adherence to medication (patient, socioeconomic, condition, therapy, and health system) were used to guide the analysis. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors influencing adherence to PB medications among patients with ESKD. Three hundred and fifty-eight patients submitted completed questionnaires and were included in this study; of them, 87.99% were adherent to PB medications. The factors sex, adherence to dietary restrictions, and duration on dialysis were found to be significantly and positively associated with adherence to PB medications, whereas the factors difficulty to take medications and difficulty to adhere to a large number of tablets had significant and negative associations with adherence to PB medications. Hyperphosphatemia is a cause for concern as it leads to several life-threatening complications. The results of the present study encourage to recruit representative samples and consider more factors, such as patients’ attitudes toward medications and provider-level factors, to inform policy and/or programmatic interventions that increase adherence to PB medications among patients with ESKD.