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 .