Factors influencing antiepileptic drug non-compliance in epileptic patients of pakistan

Failure to comply with drug regimes is prevalent amongst patients with epilepsy and the consequence of this is often an increased risk of further seizures and other associated harms including increased health care costs. Contributing factors leading to non-compliance of anti-epileptic drugs has not been examined in Pakistan. We investigated the factors influencing non-compliance to prescribed antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). A cross-sectional study was employed for a total of 53 epileptic patients with non-compliance of anti-epileptic drugs. The data-collection tools were a questionnaire and structured interview for this study. Results showed that males were more liable to non-compliance of AEDs as compared to females. Medication complexity (more than 2 antiepileptic drugs), treatment duration (\u3e6 months) and elderly age (\u3e 55 years) were the major reasons of non-compliance. Further implementation of educational programmes for people with epilepsy would help to improve levels of compliance thereby reducing the risk of unnecessary seizures