Abstract
Background/Aims After hospital discharge, low-income populations are at risk for adverse events, partly due to poor medication adherence. HIV and CHF studies suggest that men are more likely than women to take medications properly; however, little knowledge exists regarding medication adherence in low-income populations. If gender differences also exist in adherence after discharge, those differences could potentially be addressed by tailoring interventions to meet each group’s needs. The purpose of this study was to compare medication adherence by gender following hospital discharge in patients receiving medical aid.
Methods Adults (n = 90) completed in-person surveys within 15 days of hospital discharge from one hospital. All were members of the hospital’s medical aid program or were Medicaid beneficiaries, and they were hospitalized for reasons other than labor/delivery. Surveys assessed demographics, health literacy (REALM-SF), depressive symptoms (CES-D), motivation for following discharge instructions, and several self-care measures including Morisky’s self-reported adherence. We employed the Chi-square test to test the hypothesis that medication adherence levels (poor, moderate, and high) differed between men and women on the Morisky scale.
Results The majority of the sample was female (62%), with a mean age of 50.4 (SD = 13.5). Most (56%) of the population was White; one-fifth (20%) reported Hispanic ethnicity and 26% were African-American. Most reported medium (37.8%) or high adherence (48.9%) following discharge. The level of medication adherence did not differ between genders following hospital discharge for medical aid program members (Chi-square = .180, df = 2, P = .914).
Conclusions We observed no gender differences in medication adherence following hospital discharge among medical aid program members. However, several other behavioral or psychosocial factors conducive to appropriate adherence may differ between men and women, such as patient-activation or levels of depression. Future analyses will focus on testing for other equity issues that may warrant special attention in low-income populations.
