Erythematosus systemic lupus in Portugal: adherence and approach to medication therapy

Erythematosus Systemic Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects about half a million Europeans, more frequent in the southern countries and fertile women. The therapy adherence in this disease is not well known, particularly in Portugal. Objectives: To characterize the medication therapy of Lupus, estimate the prevalence of therapy adherence and associated factors in Portugal. Methods: This exploratory, cross-sectional and correlational study was based on a questionnaire, with MAT scale (measure of adherence to therapy) validated for the Portuguese population (Delgado & Lima, 2001), applied to 276 members of Patients with Lupus Association, in Portugal. It was used descriptive statistics and Chi-Square test, with a significance level of 5%. Results: The sample consisted mostly of females (96.0%), with an average age of 41 (± 11.46) years old. Antimalarials, antiinflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs are the pharmacotherapeutic groups more used. The prevalence of therapy adherence was 80.2%. Factors associated with Lupus therapy nonadherence are side effects, do not feel improvement, not acceptance, disease in remission and do not feel the need to treat (p<0.05). Conclusions: This study shows a considerable prevalence of Lupus therapy adherence, being several factors associated with nonadherence. It is important the intervention of health professionals to improve therapy adherence for disease control.

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