Medication adherence in rheumatoid arthritis: effects of psychosocial factors

Abstract

Several demographic and psychosocial factors have been shown to predict adherence to medication for different chronic illnesses, including age, satisfaction with medical consultations, social support, optimism, and perceptions of medications. However, little is known about how these factors relate to adherence in people living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Cross-sectional predictors of medication adherence were investigated among 85 outpatients with RA (75% women; mean age 58.88 years; mean disease duration 10.29 years). Participants completed questionnaire measures of psychosocial factors and adherence, while details of medication consumption, comorbidity and objective measures of disease activity (inflammation) were recorded from medical files. Results demonstrated that holding stronger beliefs about the necessity of medications, and believing that medications are generally not overused, predicted higher reported adherence to RA medications (over and above relevant demographic and medical factors). Adherence was also higher in people taking higher numbers of medications. These findings highlight the important role perceptions regarding medications play in terms of adhering to specific medication(s) and may prove beneficial in educational interventions for people with RA and health professionals who care for them.

Acknowledgements

This work was co-funded by the Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust Research & Development Directorate and the Interdisciplinary Research Fund of the University of Birmingham, UK. The Dudley Rheumatology Unit was in receipt of an Arthritis Research Campaign (ARC) Integrated Clinical Arthritis Centre (ICAC) grant. We would also like to thank Nicola Reynolds and Anna Heywood for their assistance with this project and the patients who took the time to participate.

Notes

[1] Identical patterns of results were obtained in regressions containing the other demographic, medical and psychosocial variables.