Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Cardiovascular diseases are common causes of mortality in Saudi Arabia and the world. This study aims to assess medication compliance and regularity of follow-up for cardiovascular patients in the Jazan region. METHODOLOGY: An analytical cross-sectional approach was used to target all registered cardiovascular patients attending the cardio clinic in a Jazan region hospital. Data were collected using an interview questionnaire developed by the researchers with the help of experts. The questionnaire included the patients' sociodemographic data, clinical characteristics, disease-related data, drugs, and appointments. RESULTS: The study included 259 patients diagnosed with cardiac disease. About 53.7% of the patients were males. All the cases had the disease for one year or more. About 56% of the patients had no difficulty remembering their medications, while 44% had problems remembering to take them. More than half of the patients had good medication adherence, and 79.6% had good appointment adherence. Only 20.4% of patients had a poor adherence rate. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The adherence rate for the patients' medication and appointments was satisfactory due to high patient awareness. On the other hand, poor adherence was related more to non-Saudi patients.