Abstract:
Background: Anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) are the primary therapeutic modes to control seizure.
Adherence to the medications has a high effect on achieving the goals of epilepsy therapy.
However, the high cost of treatment, and lack of availability of AEDs contribute to non-adherence
to epilepsy treatment. Yet, there is lack of data on AEDs adherence and its association with
availability and affordability of drugs in Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to asses
AEDs adherence by taking self-reported drug availability and affordability as factors.
Objective: To assess whether self-reported availability and affordability of antiepileptic drugs
(AEDs) affect drug adherence among Epileptic Patients at Eka Kotebe General Hospital, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia from January 2023 to March 2023.
Methods: A hospital-based analytical cross sectional study was conducted on epileptic patients,
data was collected from 357 patients using a face-to-face interview, and medical record reviews in
Eka Kotebe General Hospital, Addis Ababa Ethiopia from January2023 to March 2023 selected
using Consecutive sampling method. The collected data was cleaned, coded and analyzed by
statistical packages for social sciences 26.0 version statistical software. To identify association and
significant predictor with the outcome variable, binary logistic regression was fitted. The variable
which has statistical significance was identified on the basis of P-values ≤ 0.05 and AOR with
95% confident intervals.
Result: A total of 357 participants took part in the study, with a response rate of 92.7%. The
prevalence of AEDs adherence was 55.2% with 95% CI (50.1%; 60.2%). About two-third (61.3%)
of patients in this study had either limited access to the AEDs or cannot afford the medications.
Self-reported availability of AEDs (AOR=2.04, 95% CI=1.03, 4.03) was significantly associated
with AED adherence and self-reported affordability of AEDs was associated with AEDs adherence
(COR=1.59, CI=1.04, 2.42, P-Value=0.031) in the Bivariate logistic regression analysis; however,
when adjusted for other covariates in the multivariable logistic regression, no significant
association was observed (p=0.730).
Conclusion and Recommendation: Prevalence of adherence to AEDs among epileptic patients
at Eka Kotebe General Hospital was found to be low. Self-reported availability of AEDs was
significantly associated with adherence to AEDs. Improving governance and management
efficiency, and assessing local supply options, may improve availability..... Thesis available at Addis Continental Institute of Public Health Library