Survey of adherence to treatment in inflammatory bowel disease. ENADEII study

The rate of non-adherence to medical treatment in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is around 50%, with the consequent negative impact on treatment results, morbidity and cost.

To determine through an online survey among gastroenterologists with special dedication to IBD, their knowledge about the adherence to treatment of their patients and the methods used to improve it.

An email was sent to gastroenterologists from the technical office of the Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis Spanish working group (GETECCU), with a link to the online survey.

760 physicians were invited. One hundred eighty-four surveys were obtained (28.5%). A total of 68% of respondents had indexed IBD publications, 13% of which were on adherence. Although almost 99% considered adherence as very important/important, 25% of physicians did not assess it. Even though 100% considered that improving adherence would imply a better prognosis, 47% did not use any system to improve it. The factors associated with the assessment and improvement of adherence were: university hospital (81.4%), combined treatment with thiopurines and biological drugs (44.6%), physician gender (female) (63.1%), dedicating≥6hours weekly to IBD (71.6%), previous published indexed papers on IBD (68.5%) and on adherence in IBD (12.5%), and considering adherence as important/very important (98.9%).

Although knowledge about the relevance of adherence to medical treatment in IBD is widespread, among the gastroenterologists with special dedication to IBD who were surveyed, almost half do not use any objective system to quantify it. An effort must be made to quantify and improve adherence to the treatment of these patients.