Adherence to Psychotropic Medications and Associated Factors in Primary Health Care.

The study aims were to analyze patients' adherence to psychotropic medications and its association with sociodemographic factors, therapeutic regimen, presence of common mental disorders, and illness factors. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in ten Primary Health Care units in Brazil. The tools were the Measurement of Treatment Adherence Test and the Self Reporting Questionnaire. Nonadherence to psychotropic drugs was 88.9%. There was association between adherence and age and among patients positive for Common Mental Disorders (97.8%). In the multivariate analysis this association was not maintained. Findings indicate strategies are needed to improve medication adherence in the Primary Health Care services. However, no strategy will be effective if patients and their families are not involved in the process.