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Recorded presentation

Gary Harmon, MPH¹, Robert Federici, MSPH¹, Wendy Roy, MHA², Annette Beuchler, MBA, CHE², Larry S. Webber, PhD¹, and John J. Lefante, PhD¹. (1) Biostatistics, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal Street, Suite 2001, New Orleans, LA 70112-2715, 504-988-2891, gharmon@tulane.edu, (2) Cenla Medication Access Program, The Rapides Foundation, 1101 Fourth St., Suite 300, Alexandria, LA 71301

The Cenla Medication Access Program (CMAP) provides prescription medications for individuals who do not have, nor could afford private insurance. This paper describes predictors of adherence for 2348 CMAP participants during the first year of participation in the program. Participants are 68.7% female, 31.8% African-American, with an average age of 61.1 years. Adherence is calculated from prescription refill data using a validated formula: the number of days of medication dispensed divided by the number of days between prescription refills (medication possession ratio). Participants are dichotomized into either having low adherence (<80%) or high adherence (≥80%) to all of their prescription medications. Logistic regression methods were used to predict adherence using race, gender, age, diagnosis, and number of medications received as the predictors. Race, number of medications received, and having a diagnosis of hypertension or diabetes were all found to be significant predictors of adherence (p<.001). Caucasians are 1.6 times as likely to be adherent as African-Americans, hypertensives are 1.5 times as likely to be adherent as non-hypertensives, and non-diabetics are 1.5 times as likely to be adherent as diabetics. The fewer medications a participant received over the year was also a predictor of being adherent, with participants who received one, two, or three medications being 2.2, 1.6, and 1.8 times as likely to be adherent, respectively, than those participants receiving four or more medications. This analysis shows that Caucasians, hypertensives, non-diabetics, and those receiving fewer medications are more adherent to their prescription medications during the first year of the CMAP.

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