Abstracts

RATIONALE: Helping patients to manage medications are an important part of epilepsy treatment. Compliance studies have examined actual compliance and predictors of compliance. Patient[ssquote]s perception of compliance has been understudied. This study explores the patient[ssquote]s perception of compliance with anticonvulsant medications and its correlation with actual compliance/
METHODS: Twenty people with refractory epilepsy were interviewed regarding their perception of medication compliance. One hour open-ended interviews were conducted using an interview guide. Following the interview, each subject received the Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS cap) with instructions and was asked to use it for one month.
RESULTS: Every subject had incidence of non-compliance but 18 subjects reported that they never forgot their medications. Nine of 20 subjects were more than 75% compliant. The methods they used to remember to take their medications included use of a pager, pillbox, or daily routine. Three subjects complained that they had to plan their life around taking medications. Of the 20 subjects, 11 were less than 75% compliant and only two stated that they did not always take their medications as ordered. Of the two, one subject stated that she self-managed medications to avoid side effects and the other stated that he sometimes forgot doses and did not always take medication because of side effects. Nine of the 11 subjects felt that taking medications was not a problem and used daily routine and/or a pillbox to remember. Both groups were concerned about taking a double dose of medication.
CONCLUSIONS: Perception of compliance did not predict actual compliance. Most patients felt that remembering medications was not a problem even when actual compliance data showed poor compliance.