Patients with osteoarthritis are required to take long-term treatments to treat their chronic disease and reduce their pain. However, lack of adherence is very common and represents major barriers to treatment efficiency. Measuring patient acceptance of their medication should help to better understand and predict patients' medication-taking behavior.

OBJECTIVES : The objectives of this study are to evaluate the level of acceptance to medication in patients with osteoarthritis in real life; to identify issues and to define priorities for action.

METHODS : This is an observational, cross-sectional study conducted in Europe using Carenity Online Community. Adult patients with osteoarthritis were invited to complete an online questionnaire including a validated patient reported outcome measure: the 25-item ACCEptance by the Patients of their Treatment (ACCEPT©). It includes one general acceptance dimension (Acceptance/General) and five multi-item treatment-attribute specific dimensions: Acceptance/Medication Inconvenience, Acceptance/Long-term Treatment, Acceptance/Regimen Constraints, Acceptance/Side Effects, Acceptance/Effectiveness, scored from 0-100 (lowest to highest acceptance). Patients were categorized according to their main treatment class: anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic products, non-steroids; opioids; other osteoarthritis treatment.

RESULTS : CONCLUSIONS : Treatment acceptance is not satisfactory in osteoarthritis. Patients’ treatment acceptance is primarily driven by its effectiveness and limitations for osteoarthritis. These findings give indications about patients’ priorities and unmet needs for osteoarthritis.