Medication-taking behavior in a cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
Recent studies have shown a low adherence rate to maintenance treatment in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We sought to assess the medication-taking behavior in a cohort of patients with IBD. We prospectively included IBD patients from the outpatient clinic who agreed to answer a questionnaire about prescribed treatment and adherence. Physicians registered clinical data including prescribed medications. Two hundred fourteen patients (115 Crohn's disease/99 ulcerative colitis) were included. The most prescribed medications were oral mesalazine (56.5%) and immunomodulators (41.1%). Forty-three percent of patients admitted to occasionally forgetting to take their medication but only 7.5% of them did it voluntary. Oral mesalazine and azathioprine were the drugs with the poorest compliance, with nonadherence rates of 45% and 25% of the total prescribed doses, respectively. The only factor associated with a better adherence was a more complicated course of the disease-steroid dependency, steroid refractoriness, need for infliximab treatment, hospitalization, or surgery (P=.02). Twenty percent of patients admitted to self-medicating. An important proportion of patients with IBD admit to forget some doses of the prescribed medication in the setting of a specialized unit of a referral centre.
Bernal
Isabel
I
Gastroenterology Department, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, 5a planta, edifici general, Ctra. del Canyet, s/n, 08916, Badalona, Catalonia, Spain.
Domènech
Eugeni
E
Garcia-Planella
Esther
E
Marín
Laura
L
Mañosa
Míriam
M
Navarro
Mercè
M
Cabré
Eduard
E
Gassull
Miquel A
MA
D000328:Adult; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001379:Azathioprine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D019804:Mesalamine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012651:Self Medication; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D019804:Mesalamine; D001379:Azathioprine