Non-communicable disease care in Sierra Leone: a mixed-methods study of the drivers and barriers to retention in care for hypertension

Abstract

Objective To retrospectively analyse routinely collected data on the drivers and barriers to retention in chronic care for patients with hypertension in the Kono District of Sierra Leone.Design Convergent mixed-methods study.Setting Koidu Government Hospital, a secondary-level hospital in Kono District.Participants We conducted a descriptive analysis of key variables for 1628 patients with hypertension attending the non-communicable disease (NCD) clinic between February 2018 and August 2019 and qualitative interviews with 21 patients and 7 staff to assess factors shaping patients’ retention in care at the clinic.Outcomes Three mutually exclusive outcomes were defined for the study period: adherence to the treatment protocol (attending >80% of scheduled visits); loss-to-follow-up (LTFU) (consecutive 6 months of missed appointments) and engaged in (but not fully adherent) with treatment (<80% attendance).Results 57% of patients were adherent, 20% were engaged in treatment and 22% were LTFU. At enrolment, in the unadjusted variables, patients with higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures had better adherence than those with lower blood pressures (OR 1.005, 95% CI 1.002 to 1.009, p=0.004 and OR 1.008, 95% CI 1.004 to 1.012, p<0.001, respectively). After adjustment, there were 14% lower odds of adherence to appointments associated with a 1 month increase in duration in care (OR 0.862, 95% CI 0.801 to 0.927, p<0.001). Qualitative findings highlighted the following drivers for retention in care: high-quality education sessions, free medications and good interpersonal interactions. Challenges to seeking care included long wait times, transport costs and misunderstanding of the long-term requirement for hypertension care.Conclusion Free medications, high-quality services and health education may be effective ways of helping NCD patients stay engaged in care. Facility and socioeconomic factors can pose challenges to retention in care.