Samantha Joplin|Rick van der Zwan|Fredrick Joshua|Peter Wong
Medication Adherence in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: The Effect of Patient Education, Health Literacy, and Musculoskeletal Ultrasound
University of Sydney|Southern Cross University|Prince of Wales Hospital|UNSW Sydney|Arthritis Australia|UNSW Sydney
background rheumatoid arthritis ra chronic systemic inflammatory disease affecting lt1 population incompletely controlled ra results fatigue joint soft tissue pain progressive joint damage reduced quality life increased cardiovascular mortality despite increasing range disease modifying agents halt disease progression poor patient adherence medication significant barrier management objective goal review examine effectiveness measures improve patient medication adherence methods studies addressing treatment adherence patients ra identified trawling psycinfo medline cochrane pubmed proquest studies published january 2000 october 2014 articles independently reviewed identify relevant studies results current strategies limited efficacy improving patient adherence medications used treat ra conclusion poor medication adherence complex issue low educational levels limited health literacy contributory factors psychological models may assist explaining medication nonadherence increasing patient knowledge disease seems sensible existing educational interventions appear ineffective improving medication adherence probably due overemphasis provision biomedical information novel approach patient education using musculoskeletal ultrasound proposed