Medication adherence and quality of life among asthmatic patients in primary care in Indonesia

Background: Asthma is a chronic disease that occurs in various ages, either in developed or developing countries, causing the disturbance in daily life. The absence of asthma symptoms before an attack potentially leads to medication non-adherence behaviour. Objectives: This study aimed to assess medication adherence of asthmatic patients and analyse the relationship with quality of life. The asthmatic patients who were smokers were also identified. Methods: A cross-sectional study using the survey method was conducted. Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS-A) was used to measure adherence, and The Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) was used for measuring the quality of life. Results: 80 asthmatic patients from ten primary health care centers in Surabaya participated in this survey, predominantly female (56, 70.0%) and 45-54 years of age (27, 33.8%). There were eight (10.0%) participants who were smokers. Most asthmatic patients were categorised to have intermittent asthma (41, 51.2%) and mostly received oral short-acting beta₂-agonist (56, 41.0%). Fully adherence behaviour was only detected in 12 patients (15.0%). Most patients had a moderate quality of life (66, 82.5%). There was a low and positive relationship between adherence and quality of life (r = 0.296, p = 0.008). Conclusions: Because medication adherence is linked to quality of life, health care providers should encourage adherence among asthmatic patients. The quality of life of asthmatic patients in primary care should be improved by further research. Also, there were asthmatic patients who were smokers who needed more help quitting.