title: Self-medication and adherence to treatment in psoriasis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Self-medication and non-adherence to treatment are very common practice. This often implies bad results for the patients, as well as for the physicians. Several studies suggest that up to 30-40% of the population is non-adherent to treatments. This problem generates 5% of all hospitalizations, having caused about 45,000 deaths in 2007 in Argentina.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 21-question survey was carried out among 176 patients with psoriasis in the Psoriasis Center at the Fernandez Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-seven percent of the patients were non-adherent to treatment, and 33% were self-medicated. The two groups combined accounted for 82% of the population studied. We found no significant differences among the variables studied in either the non-adherence or the combined group, although males comprised 67% and females 33% of the self-medicated group, and that difference was statistically significant (P<0.025).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-care is a very complex behavior to be explained by a single cause, which clearly makes it a multifactorial problem. In our view, patient education, the physician-patient relationship, and availability of more effective therapeutic options would be significant factors in modifying a deep-rooted behavior pattern.
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, Fernandez Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina. doctorkive@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Dario Nicolas
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Kivelevitch
authors.forename: Paula Valeria
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Tahhan
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bourren
authors.forename: Nora Noemi
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Kogan
authors.forename: Simon Eduardo
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Gusis
authors.forename: Eduardo Adolfo
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001118:Argentina; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003879:Dermatologic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012651:Self Medication; D057566:Self Report; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
chemical_list: D003879:Dermatologic Agents