Publication:

Anti-epileptic drugs adherence of epilepsy patients in Indonesia

Background Adherence to medication is an important component of successful epilepsy treatment. However, the disease’s long-term treatment makes it difficult to achieve good adherence. This study aimed to assess the adherence level of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) among adult epilepsy patients in Indonesia and its associated factors.

Methods We reviewed the medical records of epilepsy patients in a tertiary public hospital between September 2018 and August 2019. Subjects were patients who were electro-clinically diagnosed with any type of epilepsy, have been taken at least one AED for at least three months, have a record of Morisky medication adherence scale 8 items (MMAS-8) score, and aged 20 years old and above. The level of adherence was measured by the MMAS-8 Indonesian version.

Results We found 97 eligible subjects and the majority were males (56.7%), unemployed (69.1%), and aged ≥30 years old (55.7%). Most subjects (41.2%) showed a high adherence level. The remaining 30.9% and 27.8% had a moderate and low adherence level respectively.

Conclusions This study reveals that high AEDs adherence is associated with being male, younger than 30 years of age, received monotherapy instead of polytherapy, and no memory impairment. A further investigation related to the reason why these factors play roles in the Indonesian setting is important to design appropriate strategies to improve AEDs adherence of epilepsy patients.