Socioeconomic Characteristics and Medication use among Stroke Patients in Rural Cross River State, Nigeria

This study is designed to investigate socioeconomic factors such as percentage of income spent and the perceived cost of medication that influence Medication Use among stroke patients in rural communities of Cross River State, Nigeria. The Predisposing-Enabling-Need theory provided the framework. Purposive sampling was used to select Ikom, Etung, and Abi Local Government Areas (LGAs) due to their marked similarities and presence of stroke patients. The sample size of 600 was selected, from which 200 respondents were sampled from each LGA. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 10 wards from each of the LGAs, 20 villages from each ward and 10 respondents from each village were administered with a semistructured questionnaire. Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with six key opinion leaders (chiefs, elders and religious leaders), six care givers, six significant others, and 12 stroke patients. Eighteen Focus Group Discussions were conducted among six men, six women, two community leaders and four community members, while two life histories were carried out on stroke patients. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square and Multivariate logistic regression at p=0.05; while the qualitative data were content-analysed. A significant positive relationship existed between socioeconomic status of respondents and medication use (x2 =120). Most of the respondents (92.6%) spent much of their meagre incomes on stroke treatment. Medication use was significantly associated with artisans (OR=0.433), and income level (OR=0.433), Traditional medicine was perceived as less expensive but more effective and largely accounted for adherence to prescriptions among the stroke patients. High cost of modern treatment influenced use of traditional medicine for treatment of stroke in the study area. There is need for sustained enlightenment of the people on the risk factors of stroke, access to treatment and use of medication.