OBJECTIVES

Medication adherence may be positively or negatively associated with treatment outcomes – including health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Poor (or positive) adherence may lead to worse (or better) outcomes. On the other hand, poor (or positive) outcomes may negatively (or positively) affect adherence. This study provides a detailed review of the relationship between medication adherence and HRQoL for epilepsy patients undergoing medication treatment in Japan.

METHODS

Data from the 2020 Patient Mindscape® study was used to examine the relationship between medication adherence and HRQoL among epilepsy patients undergoing medication treatment in Japan. Specifically, the relationship between self-reported medication adherence and self-reported responses to the EQ-5D-5L and EQ-VAS measures were observed for epilepsy patients (including those with rare forms of epilepsy) and all other patients. The Patient Mindscape® study is a nationwide patient survey conducted annually in Japan among 600,000+ patients undergoing drug treatment for 80+ conditions.

RESULTS

1,898 epilepsy patients were included in the analysis. 98.4% said that they use their medication “as directed" or “almost always”. Among those, the mean utility score based on EQ-5D-5L was 0.83 and the mean EQ-VAS score was 67.05. Among epilepsy patients that said they use their medication “about half" as much as directed or less, the mean utility score based on EQ-5D-5L was 0.76 and the mean EQ-VAS score was 51.90. The difference in HRQoL for adherent vs. non-adherent epilepsy patients was considerably higher compared all other patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Medication adherence appears to be positively associated with HRQoL for epilepsy patients in Japan to a degree that was not observed for all other patients. While a causal relationship was not specifically confirmed, efforts to improve medication adherence for epilepsy patients (including those with rare forms of epilepsy) may lead to an improvement in HRQoL.