The effect of rational drug use on quality of life in individuals with chronic diseases attending family health centers in the city center of Edirne

In this study, in which we included individuals with chronic diseases attending primary care centers in the city center of Edirne, the aim was to investigate the relationship between rational drug use and quality of life. Our sample consisted of 423 individuals with chronic diseases and regular drug use. Data were collected via a 51-item questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic and drug use information, the 21-item Rational Drug Use Scale, and the 12-item Short Form-12 Quality of Life Scale. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Shapiro-Wilk, Kruskal-Wallis, Pearson, and Spearman tests were used for the analysis of the data. The significance level was accepted as p<0.05 in the analyses. Of the participants, 222 were female and 201 were male. The mean age of the participants was determined to be 59.12±14.01. The mean rational drug use score of the participants was 34.77±5.23. 61% of the participants had an adequate level of knowledge regarding rational drug use. It was determined that several variables affected rational drug use, and the physical and mental sub-dimensions of quality of life. It was found that individuals with urinary system disease had significantly lower rational drug use scores. It was determined that diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal diseases significantly lowered the Short Form-12 physical component scores. No significant difference was found between chronic disease types and mental component scores. A positive correlation was identified between rational drug use and Short Form-12 physical component scores. In our study, some factors affecting rational drug use and quality of life were identified, and a positive correlation was found between the levels of rational drug use and physical quality of life. Increasing the level of knowledge on rational drug use may improve the quality of life of individuals. Keywords: chronic diseases, drug utilization evaluation, quality of life