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Better adherence to medication is associated with improved health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in individuals with sarcoidosis, according to study results published in CHEST.
For this cross-sectional study, researchers recruited patients aged ≥18 years who were diagnosed with and were on treatment for pulmonary sarcoidosis at Johns Hopkins Sarcoidosis Clinic between August 2018 and February 2019 (N=117). Participants filled out questionnaires about medication adherence, HRQoL, and use of the healthcare system. The researchers used the Medication Adherence Report Scale 5-item to measure patients’ adherence, and they collected clinical data for each patient, including lung function, disease duration, comorbidities, and sarcoidosis organ involvement, from the patients’ medical records.
Patients with higher Medication Adherence Report Scale scores had significantly better HRQoL as measured by both the St. George Respiratory Questionnaire and King’s Sarcoidosis Health Questionnaire (P <.05). There was no association between medication adherence and lung function or medication adherence and emergency department visits in the last 6 months or hospitalization in the last 12 months. The researchers found an association between medication adherence and race (P <.05), but no association between medication adherence and sex, organ involvement, income, education, or disease duration.
Study limitations included its cross-sectional design as the researchers were unable to evaluate the directionality of association. There was also a lack of data on all of the potential determinants of adherence. In addition, incomplete lung function data limited the interpretation of the finding of no significant association with medication adherence. More than half of participants had multi-organ disease, but the effect of the involvement of these other organ systems remains unclear. Despite the modest sample size, these findings will help inform a larger longitudinal study on this topic.
“Our findings suggest that medication adherence may be an important target to improve patient reported outcomes and health disparities in sarcoidosis,” the researchers concluded. “Future studies are needed to understand the impact of medication adherence and its determinants may have on clinical outcomes and health disparities in sarcoidosis.
Disclosure: One study author declared associations with the pharmaceutical industry. Please see the original reference for a full list of authors’ disclosures.
Reference
Sharp M, Brown T, Chen ES, Rand CS, Moller DR, Eakin MN. Association of medication adherence and clinical outcomes in sarcoidosis [published online February 4, 2020]. CHEST. doi:10.1016/j.chest.2020.01.026
