Effect of quality of life impact and clinical severity on adherence to topical acne treatment.
BACKGROUND
Topical medications are the most commonly prescribed treatments for acne patients. However, adherence to these treatments and possible associations with clinical severity and quality of life (QoL) impact are unclear.


OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the association between sociodemographic factors, clinical severity, and QoL impact and adherence to topical acne treatments.


METHODS
This was an observational study of acne patients referred for usual care to community-based dermatologists. Adherence was assessed with questionnaires after 2 months of acne therapy. The associations of adherence with factors of interest were evaluated by chi-square analysis and Spearman rank correlation.


RESULTS
In 152 acne patients treated with topical medications, low adherence was observed in 26%, medium in 49%, and high in 24%. Age, gender, duration of acne, education level, third-party drug plan coverage, smoking history, recreational drug use, ingestion of alcohol, and number of prescribed topical agents were not significantly associated with adherence. Adherence was significantly positively correlated with QoL impact (r = .24, p = .003), with the role-emotional and self-perception domains having the highest correlations. In contrast, adherence was weakly negatively correlated with facial acne severity (r = -.16, p = .047).


CONCLUSIONS
This study focused on facial acne, and adherence was based on patient reporting.


CONCLUSIONS
Adherence to topical acne therapy increases with impact on QoL but decreases with increasing acne severity.
Tan
Jerry K L
JK
Windsor Clinical Research Inc., Windsor, ON, Canada. jerrytan@bellnet.ca
Balagurusamy
Madhan
M
Fung
Karen
K
Gupta
Aditya K
AK
Thomas
D Richard
DR
Sapra
Sheetal
S
Lynde
Charles
C
Poulin
Yves
Y
Gulliver
Wayne
W
Sebaldt
Rolf J
RJ
D000152:Acne Vulgaris / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D000279:Administration, Cutaneous; D000328:Adult; D003879:Dermatologic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
D003879:Dermatologic Agents