title: Compliance with treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, progressive, debilitating disease that demands continuous therapy with multiple medications. Noncompliance with disease-modifying drugs may cause disease flares, preventable functional impairment, unnecessary treatment changes, and loss of health care resources. The aim of the current study was to explore self-reported compliance with treatment and the factors contributing to this compliance using a representative sample of an RA patient population in Estonia. Two thousand patients diagnosed with RA were randomly selected from the Estonian Health Insurance Fund database. The eligible response rate of the study was 60%. Using prestructured questionnaires, the following information about the disease and treatment was evaluated: self-reported compliance with treatment, reasons for noncompliance, disease history, sociodemographic variables, health care utilization, and satisfaction with health care providers. The self-reported compliance rate was 80.3%, reflecting the percentage of patients who reported that they always took their medications exactly as described. The most often reported reasons for noncompliance were side effects and fear of side effects. Compliance was found to be the lowest in a group of younger and active patients with higher income. Higher frequency of visits to the rheumatologist, satisfaction with health care providers, and sufficient information about RA treatment correlated with better compliance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tartu and Tartu University Hospital, Tartu, Estonia. raili.muller@kliinikum.ee
authors.forename: Raili
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Riina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kallikorm
authors.forename: Kaja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Põlluste
authors.forename: Margus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lember
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004957:Estonia; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents