Contribution of Personality Traits,Psychological Factors, and Health-Related Qualityof Life to Medication Adherence in Patientswith Rheumatoid Arthritis

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#This study sought to investigate the associations between personality traits and medication adherence and to identifypredictors of good medication adherence in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. @*Materials and Methods@#A total of 207 RA patients using disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs were invited for an interviewand questionnaire study. Medication adherence was measured using the Compliance Questionnaire for Rheumatology (CQR).Personality traits were analyzed with the five-factor model of the Korean version of the Big Five Inventory 10. Psychological factorswere assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and British Columbia Cognitive Inventory.Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and functional disability were evaluated with the EuroQoL-5 dimension questionnaireand Health Assessment Questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate predictorsof good medication adherence. @*Results@#Nonadherence to medication was reported by 66.7%. The number of daily prescribed pills was higher in the medicationadherence group than in the nonadherence group. Concomitant oral glucocorticoid doses were associated with medication adherence.A high level of conscientiousness and diabetes mellitus comorbidity were associated with better medication adherence[odds ratio (OR), 2.11; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01–4.38 and OR, 3.00; 95% CI, 1.12–8.07, respectively]. There were no significantdifferences in psychological factors or HRQoL between medication adherence and nonadherence groups. @*Conclusion@#The personality trait of conscientiousness was associated with medication adherence among the five personalitytraits evaluated. Patients with diabetes mellitus also showed higher medication adherence than those without this comorbidity.