PMID- 27213997
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20160913
LR  - 20220317
IS  - 0392-856X (Print)
IS  - 0392-856X (Linking)
VI  - 34
IP  - 4
DP  - 2016 Jul-Aug
TI  - A survey on the medication adherence to methotrexate among rheumatoid arthritis 
      patients treated with self-administered biologic drugs.
PG  - 694-7
AB  - OBJECTIVES: Methotrexate (MTX) is the most widely used co-therapy among 
      rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients using biological disease-modifying 
      anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs). However, adherence to MTX treatment remains a 
      concern with estimates of adherence ranging from 59 to 63%. The objective of this 
      study was to assess the self-reported use and adherence to MTX among RA patients 
      treated with self-administered bDMARDs. METHODS: An electronic questionnaire 
      survey was conducted in 68 community pharmacies in Finland. To be included in the 
      present study patients had to be at least 18 years old, be currently using a 
      self-administered bDMARD and be diagnosed with RA. The results are presented as 
      medians with their respective interquartile ranges (IQR) or percentages. RESULTS: 
      Of the 158 pharmacy customers asked to participate, 135 (85%) consented to 
      complete the questionnaire. The included respondents were predominantly female 
      (72%) with a median age of 55 (IQR 44-65) and rheumatic activity of 3 out of 10 
      (IQR 2-6.5). The majority (91%) of the included respondents were using 
      TNF-inhibitors and 27% of all patients were on biologic monotherapy. MTX was 
      currently used by 45% of the respondents while 50% were past users. Of the 
      current MTX users, 6.8% identified themselves moderately non-adherent to the 
      treatment. MTX-related adverse events were important factors associated with 
      nonadherence and discontinuation of the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Only 45% of the 
      respondents were currently using MTX co-therapy, but the ones who did were 
      adherent to their treatment. Self-reported adherence may however be subject to 
      social desirability bias and recall bias.
FAU - Aaltonen, Kalle J
AU  - Aaltonen KJ
AD  - Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, Finland. 
      kalle.jm.aaltonen@helsinki.fi.
FAU - Turunen, Juha H
AU  - Turunen JH
AD  - Research Department, Farenta Oy, Vantaa, Finland.
FAU - Sokka, Tuulikki
AU  - Sokka T
AD  - Department of Rheumatology, Jyvaskyla Central Hospital; and Faculty of Health 
      Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
FAU - Puolakka, Kari
AU  - Puolakka K
AD  - Department of Medicine, South-Carelia Central Hospital, Lappeenranta, Finland.
FAU - Valleala, Heikki
AU  - Valleala H
AD  - Department of Rheumatology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20160519
PL  - Italy
TA  - Clin Exp Rheumatol
JT  - Clinical and experimental rheumatology
JID - 8308521
RN  - 0 (Antirheumatic Agents)
RN  - 0 (Biological Products)
RN  - YL5FZ2Y5U1 (Methotrexate)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Antirheumatic Agents/*administration & dosage
MH  - Arthritis, Rheumatoid/diagnosis/*drug therapy
MH  - Biological Products/*administration & dosage
MH  - Community Pharmacy Services
MH  - Cross-Sectional Studies
MH  - Drug Prescriptions
MH  - Drug Therapy, Combination
MH  - Female
MH  - Finland
MH  - Health Care Surveys
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - *Medication Adherence
MH  - Methotrexate/*administration & dosage
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Self Administration
MH  - Surveys and Questionnaires
EDAT- 2016/05/24 06:00
MHDA- 2016/09/14 06:00
CRDT- 2016/05/24 06:00
PHST- 2015/10/21 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2016/02/15 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2016/05/24 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2016/05/24 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2016/09/14 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10078 [pii]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2016 Jul-Aug;34(4):694-7. Epub 2016 May 19.