Internet-based survey intervention improves adherence to methotrexate among psoriasis patients

While it is known that psoriasis patients have poor adherence to both topical and systemic medications, adherence to methotrexate is not well-characterized, and ways to improve methotrexate adherence have not been addressed.

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a digital intervention improved adherence to oral methotrexate as measured by electronic monitoring.

Twenty-nine patients were randomized to receive either weekly digital interventions assessing treatment adherence or no intervention for 24 weeks. Patients received medication bottles with electronic monitoring, and returned at weeks 4, 12, and 24 to evaluate disease severity.

The intervention group took methotrexate correctly 77.1% of the weeks observed compared to the control group which averaged 64.5%. More intervention patients took methotrexate as directed compared to the control group (78.3% vs 64.2%, p < 0.0001). Patients were most adherent around follow-up visits, with 100% of digital intervention patients and 80% of control patients taking methotrexate correctly during the week of a follow-up visit (p = 0.02). The digital intervention did not significantly improve disease severity in the intervention group compared to the nonintervention group.

Low cost, scalable digital interventions may have the potential to increase psoriasis patient adherence to methotrexate, although the mechanism for the improvement is not yet well defined.