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Clinical impact and drivers of non-adherence to maintenance medication for inflammatory bowel disease
Christian P Selinger1, Andrew Robinson, Rupert W Leong
1Gastroenterology, Salford Royal Hospital, Salford, UK. Christian.selinger@web.de
Introduction:
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) require maintenance medication to sustain remission and as a prophylaxis against the development of colorectal dysplasia. Non-adherence can compromise the effectiveness of treatment plans.
Areas Covered:
Depending on study cohort and country, 7 - 72% of IBD patients do not adhere to maintenance medication plans. Non-adherence is associated with an increased number of flares and increased healthcare utilization costs. Several factors, such as experiencing side effects and demographic, socioeconomic, disease-specific and psychological variables have been associated with non-adherence in IBD. Data on demographic, socioeconomic and disease-specific variables are inconsistent, while data on psychological distress, patients' beliefs about medication and discordant doctor-patient relationships are more consistently associated with non-adherence. There has been a change towards investigation of modifiable factors for non-adherence in the recent literature.
Expert Opinion:
Currently, there is no simple and effective intervention to improve adherence to IBD maintenance medication. Anxiety, beliefs about medicines and the doctor-patient relationship are promising targets for interventions, but require further study.
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