[Risk factors for therapeutic noncompliance of patients with epilepsies]

Inadequate compliance is a major contributor to unsuccessful treatment in epilepsies. To establish risk factors associated with therapeutic non-compliance in patients with epilepsy, we carried out a case-control study, nested into a cohort, with thirteen factors possibly implicated in therapeutic non-compliance. The patient's general characteristics, the illness, and patient-practitioner relationship were studied. Patients were followed during 6 months; during this time, serum levels and pill counts were registered. Of 150 patients, 66 were non-compliers and 84 were compliers. Seven of thirteen factors were statistically different with an odds ratio greater than 3 (p < 0.05). However, after log-lineal regression analysis, only the total number of pills per day and the subject's intellectual level were significant. These two factors increase 3.66 times the risk of non-compliance. We conclude that epileptic patients with a low intellectual level and more than three prescribed pills per day have a 3.66 times greater risk of non-compliance to anti epileptic treatment.