Is There an Association Between Medication Knowledge and Medication Compliance in Renal Transplant Recipients?

Introduction: It is well known that success of organ transplantation depends on medication compliance. Knowledge about the disease and prescribed medication can contribute to a better medication taking behavior and is associated with higher rates of compliance. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between medication knowledge and medication compliance among kidney transplant recipients.

Methods: The study was conducted with adult subjects attending the nephrology post-transplant clinic of a tertiary care government and two private hospitals in Kolkata. This was a longitudinal study that included 153subjects.

Results: Majority (71.23%) of the kidney recipients' medication knowledge were good or better. Medication knowledge score was significantly associated with compliance status of renal transplant recipients. There was no statistically significant association of age and education with medication compliance. The transplant recipients were quite young in age; their median age being 37 years with interquartile range 29-48 years.

Conclusions: So improving medication knowledge of renal transplant recipients could improve the medication compliance among adult renal transplant recipients.