Abstract
CONTEXT: Medication nonadherence is a significant barrier in achieving seizure freedom in patients with epilepsy. There is a deficiency of data about the reasons for nonadherence in Saudi population. AIMS: The aim of this study is to prove the existence of nonadherence to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in patients with epilepsy and identify the responsible factors. SETTING AND DESIGN: This is a prospective, cross-sectional study carried in the Department of Neurology at King Fahd Hospital of the University affiliated with Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients of all ages diagnosed to have epilepsy as mentioned in their medical record and taking antiepileptic medications were interviewed using a questionnaire. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Statistical analysis was performed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Statistical significance was defined as two-tailed with a P </= 0.05. RESULTS: Among 152 participants, 52.6% were male and 47.4% were female. Mean age of the patients was 28 +/- 14.3 (mean +/- standard deviation) years. Of 152 patients, 48.7% were found to be nonadherent to their AED therapy. The most commonly identified factor was forgetfulness. Nonadherence was significantly associated with poor seizure control (P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Nonadherence to the AED is common among patients with epilepsy and affects seizure control adversely.
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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the
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