A survey study on assessment of disease related Knowledge and medication adherence of patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in a small city of Bangladesh

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a persistent infection that influences joints and outbreak of RA has been accelerating day by day in Bangladesh. The study aims to assess disease related knowledge, medication adherence of RA patients. A randomized study was performed among 217 RA patients in 2 months and the patients were rated according to scoring rules. We found from this study 40.5% of respondents were adherent to medication and 32.3% were knowledgeable about having disease knowledge. Next, we observed that odds of being nonadherent to medications is 4.71 (95% CI 2.64-11.33) for the middle age group than respondents from other age groups. Results of the regression between ESR and medication adherence indicated two predictors explained 71.4% of the variance (R2 =.71403, p<.01). Although more research is needed to establish the relationship and our findings suggest a need to sensitize the health care sector about potential risks associated with Rheumatoid arthritis.