Abstract: Objective To investigate the status of medication adherence in the patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) taking guideline-recommended drugs (donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine, and memantine) in Xi’an, and to analyze the influencing factors. Methods From May 2016 to April 2021,a total of 473 AD patients from the Memory Clinic of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University were selected and divided into the good adherence group and the poor adherence group. The demographic data, first visit data and basic information of caregivers in the two groups were observed and compared. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the influencing factors of medication adherence in the AD patients. Results Of the 473 patients, 45.0% had poor 1-year adherence. There were significant differences in the residence, education degree, medical insurance type, score of Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE), mental behavior symptoms, drug combination, monthly drug costs, education degree of caregivers, occupation of caregivers and the monthly family income between the good adherence group and poor adherance group(P<0.05). Caregivers believing that the treatment showed no significant effect was the most important reason for discontinuation. Multivariate Logistic analysis showed that the influencing factors of medication adherence included caregivers’ occupation (OR=0.405, 95% CI:0.266-0.616, P<0.001), MMSE score (OR=1.071, 95%CI:1.030-1.115, P=0.001), psycho-behavioral symptoms (OR=0.660, 95% CI:0.436-1.000, P=0.049), and drug combination (OR=0.389, 95%CI:0.250-0.606, P<0.001). Conclusions It is important to improve the poor medication adherence in AD patients in Xi’an. The attitude of caregivers to the disease, the sever degree of the disease, and the drug strategies are the main factors affecting medication adherence.

Key words: Alzheimer’s disease, drug therapy, medication adherence