Compliance with chemotherapy in adult leukemia patients in Benin City, Nigeria / Cumplimiento con la quimioterapia en pacientes adultos con leucemia en Benin, Nigeria

The aim of this study is to determine the compliance rate, reasons for default and factors affecting compliance. One hundred and twenty patients on chemotherapy for leukaemia were followed up for between 6 months and 18 months at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. The reasons for default were recorded. Compliant and noncompliant patients were compared in terms of survival and personal characteristics. The non-compliance rate was 65.8%. Major reasons for defaulting were high cost of drugs (35.3%), non-availability/scarcity of drugs (23.5%) and side effects (17.6%). Compliance was significantly associated with higher levels of education (p= 0.0028) while higher levels of socioeconomic status were significantly associated with good compliance (p= 0.0001). Survival was found to be significantly associated with compliance in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) (P = 0.006) while the relative risk (RR) was below unity in all the chronic leukaemias. The level of compliance with medical therapy is still very poor. Health education and the provision of affordable, accessible and appropriate medical therapy are required. A multidisciplinary approach to improve compliance of patients with medical therapy is advocated.