Examining the correlation of adherence to warfarin therapy with demographic characteristic

Aims: warfarin is the most commonly prescribed medication for preventing stroke and thromboembolism in the united states. numerous demographic and medical factors can affect the success of warfarin therapy. the most determining factor in the success of warfarin therapy is patients’ adherence to the treatments. this study was conducted to examine “the correlation between adherence to warfarin therapy and demographic characteristics among patients referring to warfarin clinics”. methods: in this cross-sectional descriptive study, a purposive sample of 400 patients receiving warfarin was recruited in 2013 from two warfarin clinics located in tehran, iran. a demographic questionnaire, the morisky medication adherence questionnaire, the international normalized ratio test, and the number of attendance at warfarin clinics were used for data collection. study data were analyzed by using the spss software v. 19.0, the mann-whitney and the chi-square tests, and the measures of descriptive statistics. results: based on the scores of the morisky questionnaire, 57.8% of participants had adherence to warfarin therapy. the inr value of 73.5% of the participants was in the therapeutic range and 38% of them had attended warfarin clinics regularly. only 27.8% of the participants met all the three criteria of adherence to warfarin therapy. warfarin adherence was significantly correlated with educational status (p<0.0001), household members (p=0.041), employment (p<0.0001), house area (p=0.0120, and income (p=0.002). conclusions: adherence to warfarin therapy is a multi-factorial behavior which is affected by factors such as educational, financial, familial, and employment status. nurses need to take these factors into account when developing care plans and educational programs for patients in order to enhance patients’ adherence to warfarin therapy.