Practice of dietary supplements and its influence towards treatment adherence among chronic disease patients

Abstract

Introduction The use of dietary supplements had risen over the years among chronic disease patients with most of it were of patients' own initiative. This study aimed to describe the supplements use, assess the knowledge and attitude towards supplements and its interaction with prescribed medication, and determine whether knowledge and attitude towards supplements could influence treatment adherence in chronic disease patients. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among chronic disease patients in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Center, Kuala Lumpur from September to November 2016 upon their written informed consent. This study consists of a collection of validated instruments that measured the use of dietary supplements and its reason; the knowledge and attitude on dietary supplements and supplements-drug interaction and medication adherence. Results A total number of 250 respondents were interviewed and 72.4% was found to use supplements of own initiatives. Most of the respondents were using supplements to maintain health (78.8%), prevent health problems (72.4%) and improve overall health (63.2%). It was found that respondents' knowledge on supplement-drug interactions were not at the satisfactory level. The treatment adherence was found not to be associated with knowledge and attitude towards supplements nor numbers of supplements use. Conclusions Chronic disease patients mainly knew on the purpose of supplements for health and wellness, but had less knowledge on supplement-drug interactions, warranting patients' education on that particular field.