Psychosocial predictors of patient adherence to disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis.
OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to identify the impact of psychosocial predictors, specifically relationship style, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, cognitive impairment, and culture-specific disease beliefs, on treatment adherence for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.


METHODS
In this cross-sectional observational study, patients from two MS clinics in Saudi Arabia completed self-reported questionnaires focused on MS treatment adherence, physical symptom burden, relationship style, cultural beliefs, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and cognitive impairment.


RESULTS
A total of 163 MS patients participated, 81.6% of them were female, and the mean age of the patients was 31.6 years. Mean patient-reported adherence to their MS treatment regimen was 79.47%±25.26%. Multivariate linear regression analysis only identified patients' belief that their MS was due to "supernatural" forces as being significantly negatively associated with MS medication adherence.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates the importance of cultural interpretations to MS medication adherence in comparison to psychosocial factors. Education and family involvement in the treatment planning may address this issue and warrant further research.
Department of Psychiatry.
Fahad D
FD
Alosaimi
College of Medicine, King Saud University.
Alaa
A
AlMulhem
College of Medicine, King Saud University.
Hanan
H
AlShalan
Department of Mental Health, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre.
Mohammad
M
Alqazlan
Department of Neurology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulgader
A
Aldaif
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.
Matthew
M
Kowgier
Centre for Mental Health, University Health Network.
Janooshsheya
J
Balasundaram
Centre for Mental Health, University Health Network; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Sanjeev
S
Sockalingam
adherence; attachment style; culture; depression; multiple sclerosis