Impact of adherence to antiepileptic medications on quality of life of epileptic patients in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Background: Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases, characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Adherence to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) is vital in establishing seizure control. The adherence, in turn, impacts the quality of life (QoL) in epileptic patients. Methodology: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted at King Fahd Hospital of the University, Qatif Central Hospital, and Dammam Central Hospital in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia during the period from January 2018 to April 2018. Epileptic patients from all age groups treated with at least single AED and who had follow-up in hospital for the past 6 months were included in the study. Patients with intellectual disabilities and those who received AEDs for other indications were excluded. The participants were interviewed in Arabic, and validated translated version of questionnaire was completed under the following sections: sociodemographic characteristics, adherence assessment using the General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS), and QoL in epilepsy patients using EQ-5D-5L. Results: We report 48% of participants with high adherence, 34% with moderate adherence, while 19% exhibited low adherence toward AEDs. Of 80 participants, 25 (31%) reported perfect health status (11,111) and 2 (3%) reported extremely worst health status (55,555). Further, the study revealed a significant (P = 0.045 and 0.035) improvement of QOL in patients with moderate and high adherence compared to patients with low adherence. Conclusion: This study reports high health-related quality index (QoL) in participants with moderate–high adherence. The relationship between adherence and overall HRQoL was directly proportional.