Adherence to Medication among Parkinson’s Disease Patients Using the Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale

Table 1

Demographic and clinical characteristics of the study PD population (N = 112) and comparison of fully and lower adherent group.

Demographic and clinical characteristics and scores	All patients N = 112	Fully adherent N = 29	Lower adherent N = 83	value
Sex
Male^#	65 (58.0)	16 (55.2)	49 (59.0)	NS
Female^#	47 (42.0)	13 (44.8)	34 (41.0)
Actual age (years)	67.0 ± 7.3	68.9 ± 8.2	66.4 ± 6.9	NS
Education^#
Primary school	10 (8.9)	2 (6.9)	8 (9.6)	NS
Secondary school	69 (61.6)	16 (55.2)	53 (63.9)
Faculty	33 (29.5)	11 (37.9)	22 (26.5)
Age at onset (years)	59.2 ± 8.2	62.1 ± 8.8	58.1 ± 7.7	0.022
Disease duration (years)	7.9 ± 4.5	6.8 ± 3.7	8.4 ± 4.6	NS
Form of the disease^#
Tremor-predominant	40 (35.7)	12 (41.4)	28 (33.7)	NS
Akinetic-rigid	72 (64.3)	17 (58.6)	55 (66.3)
Number of levodopa daily doses	4.6 ± 0.9	4.4 ± 0.9	4.7 ± 0.9	NS
Number of drugs per day	3.3 ± 1.4	3.0 ± 1.3	3.5 ± 1.4	NS
Levodopa average dose (mg/day)	537.0 ± 214.0	462.1 ± 177.1	564.6 ± 220.7	0.018
LEED (mg/day)	853.8 ± 361.8	702.8 ± 307.4	906.5 ± 366.1	0.014
Patients with motor fluctuations^#	77 (68.8)	15 (51.7)	62 (74.7)	0.022
Patients with dyskinesias^#	51 (45.5)	9 (31.0)	42 (50.6)	NS
Patients with hallucinations^#	39 (34.8)	5 (17.2)	34 (41.0)	0.021
UPDRS total score	56.3 ± 20.8	49.6 ± 22.3	58.7 ± 19.9	0.013
UPDRS I	3.8 ± 2.5	3.1 ± 2.5	4.0 ± 2.4	NS
UPDRS II	14.5 ± 6.4	12.8 ± 6.9	15.1 ± 6.3	NS
UPDRS III	33.7 ± 11.5	30.2 ± 13.3	34.9 ± 10.6	0.017
UPDRS IV	4.3 ± 3.7	3.3 ± 3.5	4.7 ± 3.7	0.041
HY stage	2.5 ± 0.6	2.4 ± 0.6	2.6 ± 0.6	NS
S&E scale	75.6 ± 13.8	80.3 ± 12.7	73.9 ± 13.9	0.032
HDRS total score	10.9 ± 7.3	8.9 ± 7.1	11.7 ± 7.2	NS
HARS total score	8.9 ± 6.4	7.3 ± 6.9	9.6 ± 6.1	0.043
NMSQuest	10.9 ± 5.7	8.9 ± 4.6	11.7 ± 5.9	0.023

^#Values are the number of patients (percentage); Values are mean ± standard deviation; NS = not significant. ^∗indicates the number of drugs (antiparkinsonian drugs, benzodiazepines, antipsychotics, and antidepressants) per day. values from Mann–Whitney U tests for continuous variables and the Pearson chi-squared test for categorical variables comparing fully and lower adherent groups are presented. The statistically significant difference is . Patient characteristics that differed significantly between groups () are shown in boldface. LEDD, levodopa equivalent daily dose; UPDRS, Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Score; HY, Hoehn and Yahr stage; S&E, Schwab–England Scale; HDRS, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale; HARS, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale; NMSQuest, Non-Motor Symptom Questionnaire.