Adherence to Medications among Outpatient Adults with Multiple Sclerosis in Medina Province in Ksa (Cross-Sectional Study)

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis  (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory,  progressive,  demyelinating  disease of the central nervous system.  Treatment  for  MS  involves  long-term  disease-modifying  therapies  (DMTs).  Medication  adherence  in  chronic diseases like MS plays an important role in predicting long-term outcomes. This is a cross-sectional,  survey-based  study was done to assess adherence to medications among adults suffering from MS in Medina Province, Saudi Arabia. The study sample  included  90patients  diagnosed  with  multiple  sclerosis.  These  databases  contain  information  about  disease presentation, drug prescription, vital status, residency, and role of contact to patient. All the collected data were analyzed by an SPSS program, version 20, and p value < 0.05 was considered  significant. A response rate among the MS patients was 97.78%, and their mean age was 36.13±9.58. Most of the participants were above 35 years (55%) and were females. About 37.8% of patients was considered  to be adherent to the drugs. The mean total score of BMQ Specific-Necessity was 3.25±0.70  and about 63.4% total score=3  and the mean total score of BMQ Specific-Concerns  was (3.34±0.703). About  84.4%  total  score=3.  The  mean  total  score  of  BMQ  General  was  3.2727±0.31,  and  about  81.1%  had  a  total score=3. The mean total score of compliance was 3.2023±0.393.We concluded that many factors affected the patient's adherence to the drug rather than of being dependence  to the drugs as worrying about side effects and the cost of the drug.