PMID- 25444258
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20150713
LR  - 20220408
IS  - 1502-7732 (Electronic)
IS  - 0300-9742 (Linking)
VI  - 44
IP  - 3
DP  - 2015 May
TI  - Glucocorticoids in systemic sclerosis: patients' beliefs and treatment adherence.
PG  - 229-37
LID - 10.3109/03009742.2014.957239 [doi]
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate how chronic intake of glucocorticoids (GCs) is 
      perceived by patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) in terms of necessity and 
      concerns, and whether such beliefs influence treatment adherence. METHOD: 
      Ninety-eight consecutive SSc patients who they had been taking oral GCs for > 3 
      months prior to the study were enrolled. All patients underwent a clinical 
      evaluation and laboratory investigations, and were asked to complete four 
      self-administered questionnaires: the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire 
      (Specific-BMQ), the four-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-4), the 
      36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and the Health Assessment Questionnaire 
      Disability Index (HAQ-DI). Moreover, patients answered two additional questions 
      investigating their knowledge about GC-related adverse events (AEs). RESULTS: 
      Seventy-seven patients (83.6%) believed in the necessity of GCs for maintaining 
      health but 72.8% also reported concerns about potential AEs to GCs. A high 
      adherence rate was recorded in 64.1% of patients. Only about 20% of patients 
      reported knowing that a daily GC dose and treatment duration influence the burden 
      of GC-related AEs. Patients who believed that GC-related AEs were influenced by 
      the dose scored lower concerns (p = 0.043) and were more frequently labelled as 
      accepting (perceiving high necessity and low concerns) (p = 0.009). CONCLUSIONS: 
      The majority of patients taking GCs perceived them as necessary, but high 
      concerns about chronic GC use exist. Patients with a poorer knowledge of the 
      factors associated with GC-related AEs and those with a poorer quality of life 
      were the most worried about these compounds. Experimental studies assessing the 
      efficacy of educational programmes aiming to increase the adherence to GC therapy 
      should be planned in these patients.
FAU - Iudici, M
AU  - Iudici M
AD  - Rheumatology Unit, Second University of Naples , Italy.
FAU - Russo, B
AU  - Russo B
FAU - Mitidieri, M
AU  - Mitidieri M
FAU - Cuomo, G
AU  - Cuomo G
FAU - Valentini, G
AU  - Valentini G
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20141202
PL  - England
TA  - Scand J Rheumatol
JT  - Scandinavian journal of rheumatology
JID - 0321213
RN  - 0 (Glucocorticoids)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Cohort Studies
MH  - Female
MH  - Glucocorticoids/*therapeutic use
MH  - *Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - *Medication Adherence
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Quality of Life
MH  - Scleroderma, Systemic/*drug therapy
MH  - Severity of Illness Index
MH  - Surveys and Questionnaires
EDAT- 2014/12/03 06:00
MHDA- 2015/07/15 06:00
CRDT- 2014/12/03 06:00
PHST- 2014/12/03 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2014/12/03 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2015/07/15 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.3109/03009742.2014.957239 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Scand J Rheumatol. 2015 May;44(3):229-37. doi: 10.3109/03009742.2014.957239. Epub 
      2014 Dec 2.