This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
In patients with epilepsy, nonadherence to agreed antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment may result in seizure relapse, and at worst sudden unexpected death. The aim of this study was to examine the extent of both unintentional and intentional nonadherence among Norwegian patients with refractory epilepsy and try to identify possible risk factors. At the National Centre for Epilepsy in Norway, 333 consecutive adult in‐ and outpatients with refractory epilepsy participated in an anonymous survey about adherence to drug treatment. Twenty‐two percentages admitted that they sometimes or often forgot to take their drugs as scheduled, and 19% reported that they, rarely, sometimes or often intentionally did not follow the AED treatment plan agreed upon with their physician. Young age and depression were significantly correlated with unintentional nonadherence. Intentional nonadherence was associated with young age (36 years or younger). We found nonadherence not to be associated with any specific AED. In conclusion, about one‐fifth of patients with refractory epilepsy admitted that they did not adhere to the agreed drug treatment plan, either intentionally or unintentionally. Measures to reduce nonadherence in this patient group may improve seizure control and should be tailored to address both unintentional and intentional lack of adherence.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.