Evaluation of adherence and attitudes of patients with allergic rhinitis to nasal steroid treatment.

BACKGROUND

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is defined as an inflammatory disease of the nose. Nasal corticosteroids (NCS) are one of the most effective drugs used in AR treatment.

OBJECTIVE

One of the most important issues in the treatment of AR is patient adherence to NCS. We aimed to evaluate the adherence and attitude of patients with AR to NCS treatment.

METHODS

One hundred four patients who were prescribed NCS for AR at any time and who used NCS during the study period were included in the study. Morisky Medical Adherence Scale-8 (MMAS-8) was performed on the patients to determine their treatment adherence.

RESULTS

The scores of the MMAS-8 were below 6 in 55% of the patients, and the adherence of the patients to the NCS treatment was low. The adherence of the patients to NCS treatment was good in only 19% of the patients. As the duration of the disease increased, the adherence of the patients to the treatment decreased (p = 0.001). Patients who benefited from allergen immunotherapy had statistically significantly higher MMAS-8 scores than those who did not (p = 0.015). As expected, drug adherence was statistically significantly lower in patients with drug-related adverse effects (p = 0.01). Sixty percent of the patients had received NCS training, and MMAS-8 scores were significantly higher in those who received training (p = 0.023).

CONCLUSION

Inadequate drug adherence is a challenging problem in the treatment of AR. Frequent evaluation of patients' drug adherence and drug use techniques in daily practice is important for the follow-up and treatment of the disease.