title: Medication-taking behavior in a cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterology Department, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, 5a planta, edifici general, Ctra. del Canyet, s/n, 08916, Badalona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bernal
authors.forename: Eugeni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Domènech
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Garcia-Planella
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marín
authors.forename: Míriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mañosa
authors.forename: Mercè
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: Eduard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cabré
authors.forename: Miquel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gassull
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D019804:Mesalamine; D001379:Azathioprine