Medication-taking behavior and drug self regulation in people with epilepsy

RESUMO

Objective: To study the most important characteristics of antiepileptic drug (AED) taking behavior in epileptic people. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 45 consecutively seen patients answered a standardized questionnaire including questions about drug intake behavior. Results: Both genders were equally represented (22M x 23F). The mean age was 30.2 years. No specific characteristic were presented in all patients. The self-reported non-use of the drug at any moment one week before (self-reported non-adherence) was 40.0 per cent. Patients took the drug more than once in most cases (75.0 per cent), and the only precipitating factor of seizures more frequently avoided was alcohol intake (66.7 per cent). Forty-four percent said to be afraid of becoming addicted to the medicine, 61.4 per cent reduced or stopped the medicine just to see what would happen, and 47.7 per cent changed the prescription with the same purpose. There is no relationship among socio-demographic, behavior aspects or treatment characteristics, and self-reported non-adherence. Conclusions: Several patient's aspects do not seem to be strongly correlated with self-reported adherence. Nevertheless, drug self-regulation is probably related to the drug-intake behavior, and it is important for the physician to understand this parallel influence on treatment for a more realistic approach.