Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Our journals
    • Clinical Medicine
    • Future Healthcare Journal
  • Subject collections
  • About the RCP
  • Contact us

Clinical Medicine Journal

  • ClinMed Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Author guidance
    • Instructions for authors
    • Submit online
  • About ClinMed
    • Scope
    • Editorial board
    • Policies
    • Information for reviewers
    • Advertising

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
RCP Journals
Home
  • Log in
  • Home
  • Our journals
    • Clinical Medicine
    • Future Healthcare Journal
  • Subject collections
  • About the RCP
  • Contact us
Advanced

Clinical Medicine Journal

clinmedicine Logo
  • ClinMed Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Author guidance
    • Instructions for authors
    • Submit online
  • About ClinMed
    • Scope
    • Editorial board
    • Policies
    • Information for reviewers
    • Advertising

Adherence to therapy in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases: the older the better

Nelly R Ziade, Ghada A Karam, Imad Uthman, Nelly Salloum and Marouan Zoghbi
Download PDF
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7861/clinmedicine.19-2-s67
Clin Med March 2019
Nelly R Ziade
ARheumatology, Hotel-Dieu de France, Beirut, Lebanon
BRheumatology, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Ghada A Karam
ARheumatology, Hotel-Dieu de France, Beirut, Lebanon
BRheumatology, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Imad Uthman
CRheumatology, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Nelly Salloum
DRegistered nurse
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Marouan Zoghbi
EFamily Medicine, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
Loading

Aims

Adherence to therapy is a major challenge in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases (CIRD). Suboptimal adherence can lead to disease progression and increased disease burden. To date, the Compliance Questionnaire for Rheumatology (CQR) is the only self-reported adherence measure created specifically for and validated in rheumatic diseases. We used the recently validated Arabic version of the CQR (a-CQR) to evaluate the adherence to therapy in CIRD and its predictive factors.

Methods

We included 102 consecutive adult patients with CIRD (rheumatoid arthritis (RA), spondyloarthritis (SpA), connective tissue disease (CTD) and others), recruited from two rheumatology clinics. Adherence was measured using the validated a-CQR by auto-questionnaire. Additionally, patients were asked about subjective adherence and the obstacles to maintain therapy. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify clinical and disease characteristics associated with adherence.

Results

Characteristics of the 102 consecutive CIRD patients are shown in Table 1. Average time to complete the questionnaire was 2 minutes and 48 seconds (standard deviation (SD) 41 seconds). 98% of the patients stated that the questionnaire was easy to complete.

View this table:
  • View inline
  • View popup
Table 1.

Population characteristics

Most of the patients (97.1%) subjectively considered themselves as totally or moderately adherent to therapy. The most common reported reasons for subjective poor adherence were forgetfulness (20.6%), uncertainty about treatment efficacy (17.6%), treatment cost (15.7%) and fear of side effects (6.9%).

The mean a-CQR score was 85.4% (SD 8.2%), ranging from 52% to 100%. It was significantly lower in the subjectively defined poor adherence group (p=0.014).

In bivariate analysis, a-CQR correlated with age (higher adherence in older patients, p=0.007), gender (higher in women, p=0.035), disease (higher in RA, p=0.042) and total number of comorbidities (p=0.005), but not with individual comorbidities. It was not correlated with the total number of pills per week, educational level, disease activity or disease duration. In multivariate analysis, age remained statistically associated with a-CQR score (p=0.001).

Conclusions

a-CQR was well accepted among CIRD patients. It showed an acceptable level of adherence to therapy, within the range of other international studies’ results, and was positively associated with age. a-CQR can be a useful tool in future clinical and research settings.

Conflict of interest statement

No conflict of interest to declare.

  • © Royal College of Physicians 2019. All rights reserved.
Back to top
Previous articleNext article

Article Tools

Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
Adherence to therapy in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases: the older the better
Nelly R Ziade, Ghada A Karam, Imad Uthman, Nelly Salloum, Marouan Zoghbi
Clinical Medicine Mar 2019, 19 (Suppl 2) 67; DOI: 10.7861/clinmedicine.19-2-s67

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Adherence to therapy in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases: the older the better
Nelly R Ziade, Ghada A Karam, Imad Uthman, Nelly Salloum, Marouan Zoghbi
Clinical Medicine Mar 2019, 19 (Suppl 2) 67; DOI: 10.7861/clinmedicine.19-2-s67
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Aims
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Conclusions
    • Conflict of interest statement
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Catheter-related bloodstream infections in adults receiving parenteral nutrition: does the time taken to report blood cultures impact on clinical management?
  • One in a million
  • Identifying barriers perceived by young adults with type 1 diabetes for wellbeing coach-supported self-care for their diabetes
Show more Clinical

Similar Articles

Navigate this Journal

  • Journal Home
  • Current Issue
  • Ahead of Print
  • Archive

Related Links

  • ClinMed - Home
  • FHJ - Home
clinmedicine Footer Logo
  • Home
  • Journals
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
HighWire Press, Inc.

Follow Us:

  • Follow HighWire Origins on Twitter
  • Visit HighWire Origins on Facebook

Copyright © 2021 by the Royal College of Physicians