Abstracts

Adherence to medical regimens is a significant problem for children with chronic illnesses and their families. The average estimate of non-adherence is 50% to long-term treatments. Non-adherence estimates in pediatric epilepsy range from 14 to 43% based on the measurement method (e.g., self-report, blood levels). However, these methods have proven to be unreliable compared to more objective electronic monitoring methods. The purpose of the current study was to document the course of adherence using MicroElectronic Monitoring System (MEMS) for pediatric patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy., Data collection is ongoing and to date, participants include six children with new-onset epilepsy (M =8.1 years; 50% females, 50% African American/33% Caucasian/17% Biracial) and their parents. Children were diagnosed with partial (50%), absence (33%), and non-absence generalized (17%) epilepsy. Parents were asked to use the MEMS TrackCaps to assess daily medication taking to either carbamazepine or valproic acid., Preliminary data regarding one-month adherence indicated that [ldquo]taking compliance[rdquo] (number of doses taken/number of doses prescribed) ranged from 84.8 [ndash] 100% (M = 93%). Patients were adherent to their medications on 87.8% of days. Patients who were 90% adherent or higher appeared to have only 1-2 seizures after initiation of medication compared to patients who had multiple seizures with adherence rates lower than 90%. Longitudinal data over a 7-month period will also be presented., Preliminary data suggest that one-month adherence rates for children with new-onset epilepsy, using an objective method of measurement, are significantly higher than what has previously been reported in the pediatric literature. Understanding the longitudinal course of adherence over time is important because it is likely that adherence rates will decrease over time. One important area of future research is to assess adherence and barriers to effective disease management for children with epilepsy in a longitudinal, systematic manner., (Supported by: Funding supported by an NIH T32 training grant (DK063929) and the Department of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children[apos]s Hospital Medical Center.)