Arthritis patients ‘may not be taking medication as prescribed’

UK arthritis patients may be failing to take their medication as directed, potentially putting their recoveries at risk.

This is according to a new study from the Arthritis Research UK Centre for Epidemiology at the University of Manchester, which found that 40 percent of patients scored low on an adherence questionnaire at least once during their time in a recent study.

Patients with a positive belief in the need for the drug were more likely to take their medication, as were those with fewer concerns about potential side effects.

Other important factors included how patients viewed their illness, with those with a better understanding of the disease's chronic nature of rheumatoid arthritis and with a robust support structure shown to be more adherent.

Professor Ian Bruce, senior author and director of the NIHR Manchester Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit, said: "If we can find ways to inform, support and empower our patients better, we may also be able to improve the regularity of taking these very effective medications in this potentially disabling condition."