The study aimed to establish the common reasons for non-adherence to drug
treatment among breast cancer patients at the Obafemi Awolowo University
Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria over a ten-year period (Jan 1993 -
Dec 2002). Patients’ adherence and reasons for non-adherence to chemotherapy
were evaluated using descriptive statistics. Two hundred and twenty-five breast
cancer patients including 199 females and 6 males with breast cancer were
recruited. 12(5.3%) patients had Stage I disease while 126 (56%) were in stage
IV. The non-adherence rate was 80.9% and 111(73%) of the non-adherent
patients were eventually not seen again