Impaired quality of life associated with non-adherence to treatment in IBD

This month's Scandanavian Journal of Gastroenterology examines any association between impaired health-related quality of life and non-adherence to medical therapy in inflammatory bowel disease.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) have a huge impact on the patients' lives and require continuous medication and long-term medical follow-up.

The Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) is a commonly used questionnaire measuring health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Dr Tamás Molnár and colleagues from Hungary evaluated whether health-related quality of life influences medication adherence and vice versa in IBD patients.

In addition, the team investigated relationships between demographic parameters, therapeutic modalities and non-adherence or health-related quality of life.

The team enrolled 592 IBD patients treated at 6 Hungarian tertiary centers were enrolled.

Non-adherence was reported in 13% of the patients

Scandanavian Journal of Gastroenterology

Patients completed the SF-36 questionnaire and a medication adherence report scale during their visits.

The team analyzed associations between demographic parameters, health-related quality of life, different kinds of therapies and non-adherence.

The most affected dimension was physical functioning and least affected were the social functions.

The team found that about 43% of the patients revealed their health-related quality of life to be acceptable.

The research team noted that about 75% of the patients believed that the prescribed medications actually improved their health-related quality of life.

The researchers found that diarrhea was the most common and most severe symptom during the course of the disease.

Non-adherence was reported in 13% of the patients.

‘Forgetting to take the medication' was the main reason for non-adherence in 67% of the cases.

The research team observed that medication adherence was significantly higher among nonsmoker patients, and also in the case of immunomodulator therapy.

The team noted no association between the sum of health-related quality of life, and different subscores and non-adherence.

Dr Molnár's team concludes, "Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with low health-related quality of life, which is not affected by drug therapy."

"The impaired quality of life in IBD is mainly influenced by the disease itself."