Compliance with treatment of adult epileptics in a rural district of Thailand

• Published in: Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand Vol. 86; no. 1; p. 46
• Main Authors: Asawavichienjinda, Thanin, Sitthi-Amorn, Chitr, Tanyanont, Wacharin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thailand 01-01-2003
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Analysis of Variance; Anticonvulsants - administration & dosage; Child; Child, Preschool; Data Collection; Drug Administration Schedule; Drug Therapy, Combination; Epilepsy - diagnosis; Epilepsy - drug therapy; Female; Humans; Incidence; Male; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Patient Compliance - statistics & numerical data; Probability; Risk Factors; Rural Population; Severity of Illness Index; Sex Factors; Socioeconomic Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Thailand; Treatment Refusal - statistics & numerical data; Thailand
• ISSN: 0125-2208

Epilepsy, a disease when seizures can occur from antiepileptic drug withdrawal, requires regular drug taking. Non-compliance, therefore, is a major factor contributing to sub-optimal control of the seizures.
To determine the factors associated with noncompliance in epileptics in rural Thailand.
All epileptics, registered in the Pak Thong Chai District and their caregivers were invited to be interviewed and examined by a neurologist in their village.
Of a total of 93 epileptics registered, 83 with their caregivers were interviewed and examined by the neurologist (T.A.) and of those 72 were adults. Of the 72 adult epileptics, 41 (56.9%) were 100 per cent compliant and factors found to be significantly associated with compliance were gender, household income and patient's health insurance (p-value < 0.05). The major reasons for non-compliance were misunderstanding (48.4%), forgetfulness (16.1%) and economic problem (12.9%).
To improve patient-compliance, the real factors for non-compliance, which are unique to patients in a specific area, need to be identified.