Non-adherence to antiepileptic medications among patients in Saudi Arabia: A systematic review 2024

Abstract

Background:
Epilepsy is the common neurological disorder in the world, affecting approximately 50 million people. Anti-epileptic medication non-adherence can be a reason for long term hospitalization, repeated emergency seizure attacks, increased health care cost and frequent absence of work due to poor seizure control. Existed studies of anti-epileptic medication non-adherence in Saudi Arabia have reported great discrepant and inconsistent results which calls a growing demand of systematic review and meta-analysis. Non-compliance with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) results in recurrent seizures and visits to the emergency departments, leading to an increased social and economic burden, as well as increased morbidity and mortality. Non-adherence to epilepsy medications can interfere with treatment and may adversely affect clinical outcomes, although few studies have examined this relationship. Non-adherence was found to be associated with reduced seizure control, lowered quality of life, decreased productivity, seizure-related job loss, and seizure-related motor vehicle accidents.
Aim of this review : To assess the adherence to AEDs and to identify the different factors which could affect medication adherence among patients with epilepsy.
Method: Literatures were searched from the PubMed/Medline, Science Direct, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar for grey literatures. The data were extracted using a prepared data extraction Microsoft Excel format from July 2020 to April 2024 and Saudi Digital Library (SDL), data extracted from published articles were systematically analyzed for Non-adherence to antiepileptic medications among patients in Saudi Arabia Results:. The usability and outcome of Non-adherence to antiepileptic medications among patients in Saudi Arabia . 6 articles were selected that compliant with the theme of this present systematic review (Table 1). Among the 6 reviewed articles, articles have explained the current Non-adherence to antiepileptic medications among patients in Saudi Arabia .
Conclusion: Non-compliance with AEDs was noted in nearly half of the patients and likely to be a major cause of treatment failure. Age, recent episode of seizure, and concomitant use of other medications were significant predictors of non-compliance with AEDs. This demonstrates a need for clinicians to give more attention for the monitoring and evaluation of anti-epileptic medication adherence in the health care service.