Affecting Factors in Medication Adherence in Kidney Transplant Recipients

Objective: This study aimed to determine the risk factors related to immunosuppressive medication adherence in kidney transplant recipients. Methods: The study adopted a retrospective design. It was carried out on 208 kidney transplant recipients. The social cognitive theory was used for understanding and addressing the issues of nonadherence to immunosuppressive medication. Data were collected with a self-reported-Immunosuppressant Therapy Adherence Scale and biological assays. Descriptive analyses and logistic regression were used to analyze data. Results: According to the self-reported assessment, medication adherence of the patients receiving transplants from live donors was 0.503 times lower than that of the patients receiving transplants from deceased donors. The biological assays did not show any affecting factors in medication adherence. Conclusion: The results of the study showed the importance of combining methods to assess medication adherence. In the self-reported assessment, live donor transplantation was found to negatively affect medication adherence. Turkiye is the country with the highest number of kidney transplantations from live donors in the world. Health professionals must be more careful in assessing medication adherence after live donor transplantations.