Adherence to treatment in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic disease with periods of clinical activity and periods of remission. Therapeutic non-compliance is an important care problem in patients with SLE. Lack of adherence to pharmacological treatment in SLE patients is at a high level, depending on the methods used for its detection. The multiple differences in the methodological design of the studies, in the selection of variables and in the assessment tools have not allowed to accurately calculate the degree of adherence in patients. Knowing the associated factors can be very useful in the clinical setting. A low level of education, being unemployed, marital status, and age are associated with low adherence to treatment. Nonadherence to treatment is related to activity, greater disease damage and functional disability. The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), immunosuppressants, and corticosteroids are significant drugs of treatment adherence. The following review describes how the lack of adherence to treatment of SLE patients is high and seems to be influenced by sociodemographic, clinical and therapy factors.