Determination of The Factors Leading to Non Adherance With Anti-Epileptic Medication In Psychatric Ambulatory Follow Up Patients Of Mettu Karl Referral Hospital, South Western,Ethiopia: A Prospective Cross Sectional Study (Published)
Epilepsy is a chronic disorder or group of chronic disorder in which the indispensable feature is recurrence of seizures that are typically unprovoked and usually unpredictable. Nonadherence of epileptic patients to anti-epileptic medication often leads to an increased risk of seizures and worsening of disease, death and increased health care costs. To ascertain determination of the factors leading to nonadherence with anti-epileptic medication in psychiatric ambulatory follow up patients Mettu Karl Referral Hospital. A prospective cross sectional study design was carried out from March 02 /2021 to May 03/2021.Data was collected through employing check list and semi-structured questioner, and then the collected data was cleared, coded and analyzed by statistical packages for social sciences 25.0 version statistical software. A p-value of less than 0.05 is considered statistically significan. The prevalence of poor adherence to AED therapy was documented in 63.1%. The majority of patients with poor adherence to AEDs were unable to read and write 51(45. 9%).According to MMAPS-8 score,65(58.6%),21(18.9%), and 25(22.5%) of the participants had a score of low adherence, medium adherence and high adherence respectively. Factors like duration of treatment above 5 years, patient age between 25-44 years old, divorced marital status, those who had follow up every two months, patients who acquired medication out of pocket, who had co-morbidity, and side effects of AEDs were the independent predictors of AEDs non-adherence. In our study, side effect of anti-epileptic drugs was the most common reason for non non-adherence and regimen complexity was the least common reason. Health care should have to maximize communication strategies with the patients about their medication are necessary to improve adherence and to avoid the clinical consequences of poor adherence.
Keywords: Adult, Epilepsy, Ethiopia, Mettu Karl Referral Hospital, Nonadherence