Therapy adherence for inflammatory bowel disease lower in the educated

(HealthDay)—Nonadherence to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treatment is more common among wealthier, more educated patients, according to a study published online March 18 in JGH Open.

Sanjeevani K. Tomar, from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, and colleagues sought to identify the rates and predictors of nonadherence to medications in IBD among 266 patients (204 with ulcerative colitis and 62 with Crohn disease).

The researchers found that the overall adherence rate was 82.3 percent, with the lowest rate for topical therapy (67.3 percent) and the highest rate for steroids (95.9 percent). Cited reasons for nonadherence included: forgetting dose (18.8 percent), unavailability of medications (13.2 percent), felt better (11.7 percent), adverse effects (6.8 percent), and cost of treatment (6.0 percent). There was a negative association between adherence and patients' education (P < 0.001), occupation (P = 0.097), and socioeconomic status (P = 0.021), with patients in upper socioeconomic strata with a professional education and occupation having the lowest adherence (47 percent) and patients from lower socioeconomic strata who were illiterate and unemployed having the highest adherence (100 percent).

"This study emphasizes a need to educate all the patients with IBD and warn them of the consequences of nonadherent behavior," the authors write.

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