Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 School of Nursing & Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
2 Rheumatology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
3 Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, School of Nursing& Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease that affects several systems of the body. Due to the chronic nature of this
disease, non-adherence to a medication regimen can lead to deterioration by the disease and also misinterpretation of treatment
results. The aim of this study was to determine the medication adherence of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
In this descriptive study, medication adherence was investigated in 209 patients with SLE who were attending a lupus clinic in one
of the hospitals affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The sample participants who fit inclusion criteria were
entered in the study by the convenience and continuous method. Then, they completed a demographic information form and the
eight-item Morisky medication adherence scale. Data were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive statistics, chi-square, and
the ANOVA test.
The results showed that 18.7% of patients had high adherence to medication regimen, 94 patients (45.0%) had low adherence, and
76 patients (36.4%) had a moderate level of adherence to medication. There was no significant relationship between the demographic
and clinical variables of patients and their adherence to their medication.
It is necessary to take measures to increase medication adherence among these patients with systemic lupus erythematosus due to
their low and moderate medication adherence. It is also necessary that nurses and physicians in the clinic provide patient education
and heed this issue in medical and nursing programs.
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