Medication adherence in adolescent asthma patients

INTRODUCTION: One of the most important reasons for the lack of asthma control in adolescents is non-adherence to treatment. This study aimed to investigate the level of adherence to treatment and the factors affecting it in adolescent patients with asthma.
METHODS: Adolescents diagnosed with asthma for at least three months and prescribed regular controller therapy were included in the study. The Morisky 8-item Medication Adherence Questionnaire (MMAS-8) was used to assess adherence. In cases of non-adherence, the reasons were investigated. The asthma control test (ACT) was used to evaluate asthma control.
RESULTS: The study included 312 adolescents with asthma, aged between 10 and 18 years. It was observed that 57.1% of the patients were non-compliant with asthma treatment. The most common reason for non-adherence was “conscious non-adherence” (60%). The most frequently reported reasons for non-adherence were “I forget to take my medication” (27%) and “I don’t take my medication when other people are around because I don’t want my disease to be known” (25.8%). A strong positive linear relationship was found between ACT and MMAS-8 scores (r=0.72, p<0.001).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study showed that more than half of the adolescent asthma patients were non-compliant with asthma treatment. It was determined that adolescents generally exhibited “conscious non-compliance,” forgot to take their medication, and did not use their medication appropriately because they concealed their illness from others. Understanding the feelings of adolescent patients and addressing their concerns as part of asthma education may help increase compliance rates.