Authors (including presenting author) :
WONG PK, Bryan(1); Dr. CHANG SK, Richard(2)
Affiliation :
(1)The Department of Pharmacy, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, (2) Associate Consultant, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong
Introduction :
Long-term administration of antiepileptic medications for patients with epilepsy is essential to achieving a satisfactory disease control. Non-adherence to medication is a worrying issue in managing chronic medical disorders including epilepsy and it could turn ideal epilepsy control into a difficult challenge.
Objectives :
The study aims to investigate the antiepileptic medication adherence of adult patients and to identify the possible self-perceived challenges encountered by patients with epilepsy and possible ways to improve compliance with their medications in Hong Kong.
Methodology :
The population of this study is patients at the neurology outpatient clinic of Queen Mary Hospital who are aged 18 or above, attended between 3rd March 2019 and 1st December 2019 who have at least one antiepileptic drug and not being the resident of an old age home. A study questionnaire and consent form was distributed to the recruited patients before their medical appointments at the Neurology clinic. Patients would then be interviewed and taken through a set of designated questionnaires and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test. All questionnaires will be collected by the investigator at the end of each clinic. The patients would be required to bring back their remaining medication if any or complete the medication adherence data collection form in the next visit.
Result & Outcome :
Results: There were several possible obstacles leading to unsatisfactory medication adherence and there were several possible elements identified for the patients to have better medication adherence, including aid from family members (p=0.002, paired t-test), the use of pillboxes and drug alarms (p=0.04, paired t-test) and having adequate knowledge of medication administration (p=0.002, paired t-test). Conclusions: In this research, there were several elements identified for the patients to have better compliance. Those points are highly suggested to be conveyed to patients who require to take antiepileptic medications chronically. In this regard, pharmacists could share the workload to educate patients for better control of their disease state.
