Nonadherence to Antiepileptic Medications: Still a Major Issue to be Addressed in the Management of Epilepsy.

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 ≤ 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 ( = 0.002).

CONCLUSION

Nonadherence to the AED is common among patients with epilepsy and affects seizure control adversely.