ADHERENCE OF THE PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS TO BASE ANTI-INFLAMMATORY TREATMENT

Abstract

Aim — to study clinical and social characteristics of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis in correlation with adherence to basic antinflammatory drugs treatment.Materials and methods. The study included 154 patients with definite criteria of rheumatoid arthritis by classification of the American Collegeof Rheumatology (1987) observed in the rheumatology department of the Republican Clinical Hospital and Municipal Clinical Hospital № 7 (Kazan). All patients underwent clinical, radiological and laboratory tests. All patients completes of social-hygiene questionnaire and a questionnaire Health Assessment Questionnaire.Results. The majority (n = 101, 65.6%)of the patients with RA, adherent to treatment , had less pain intensity by visual analog scale, less severe radiographic changes, better functional status (p < 0,05). Among adherent patients those with longer history of disease (p < 0.05) dominated. Age, sex, educational level, social status, marital status were not correlated with adherence to basic treatment.Conclusion. The results showed low adherence to treatment of DMARDs in RA patients (65.6%). Adherence was correlated with disease duration, intensity of their pain, functional status, radiological stage of RA (p < 0.05).

Keywords

• rheumatoid arthritis
• clinical and social characteristics
• treatment adherence
• basic anti-inflammatory drugs