Patient Preference and Adherence (Sep 2022)
Quality of Life and Adherence to Healthcare Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Analysis
Abstract
Sehar-un-Nisa Hassan,1 Aqeela Zahra,2 Nuzhat Parveen,3 Fahmida Khatoon,2 Naseer Ahmad Bangi,4 Hassan Hosseinzadeh5 1Department of Public Health, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Ha’il, Ha’il, 81451, Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Ha’il, Ha’il, 81451, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, University of Ha’il, Ha’il, 81451, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Respiratory Therapy, College of Medical Rehabilitation Sciences, Taibah University, Madinah, 42353, Saudi Arabia; 5School of Haelth and Society, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, AustraliaCorrespondence: Aqeela Zahra, Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Ha’il, Ha’il, 81451, Saudi Arabia, Tel +966583675414, Email [email protected]: To determine the relationship of various domains of quality of life (QoL) with healthcare adherence during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.Methods: The study sample comprised 795 participants among which 203 had a current diagnosis of any major NCDs, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, asthma, chronic pulmonary diseases, and chronic psychiatric illnesses and a control group of 592 participants who had no NCD. Participants completed an online survey questionnaire which obtained data on socio-demographic variables, types of NCDs, and healthcare adherence during the year 2020, the period during which Saudi Arabia underwent the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) assessed the QoL in four domains physical, psychological, social and environmental and used standard scores in the analysis. GraphPad Prism 5 and SPSS 25V were employed for the statistical analysis. Bar graphs and frequency distribution tables present descriptive data. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were computed to determine the significance of the relationship between QoL and healthcare adherence.Results: Almost equal proportions of participants with NCDs (n=109/203; 54%) and without NCDs (n=327/592; 55%) demonstrated nonadherence to their regular healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic (χ 2=0.14; p=0.71). Patients with NCDs experienced lower quality of life in the psychological, social and environmental domains of QoL (p< 0.05). Results from the multivariate regression analysis showed that female gender (AOR=1.52; p< 0.05) psychological QoL (AOR=1.99; p< 0.05), social QoL (AOR=1.98; p< 0.05) and environmental QoL (AOR=1.95; p< 0.05) significantly relate with adherence to healthcare.Conclusion: Psychological, social and environmental may influence healthcare adherence among patients with NCDs during pandemics and should be focused on while devising future healthcare policy and interventions.Keywords: quality of life, COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare, adherence, non-communicable diseases, behaviors
