Adherence to oral and topical medication in 445 patients with tinea pedis as assessed by the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8.
BACKGROUND
Adherence is defined as the extent to which a person's behavior corresponds with recommendations from health care providers. Adherence to treatment is an important factor for a good therapeutic outcome.


OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to examine the adherence of patients with tinea pedis and to clarify the factors related to it.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
We assessed medication adherence for oral and topical drugs using a translated version of the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 (MMAS-8) together with other background factors in 445 Japanese patients with tinea pedis, using a questionnaire in a web-based monitoring system.


RESULTS
Overall, high, medium and low adherence rates as assessed by MMAS-8 were 8.7%, 31.7% and 59.6% for oral medication, and 8.6%, 17.4% and 74.0% for topical medication, respectively. The adherence level was significantly higher for oral medication than for topical medication. Subgroup analyses showed that the adherence level for topical medication was significantly higher when topical and oral medications were used in combination than when topical medication was used alone. A low adherence level was shown in employed patients, those for whom their oral medication had not been effective and those with topical medication who had visited their hospital less often than once every six months.


CONCLUSION
Patient adherence to therapy can be effectively improved by selecting highly effective medication while considering the prescription of topical and oral antifungal medications concomitantly, by carefully selecting a therapy plan for employed patients and by encouraging patients to visit their doctor regularly.
['Tsunemi|Yuichiro|Y|', 'Abe|Shinya|S|', 'Kobayashi|Miwa|M|', 'Kitami|Yuki|Y|', 'Onozuka|Daisuke|D|', 'Hagihara|Akihito|A|', 'Takeuchi|Satoshi|S|', 'Murota|Hiroyuki|H|', 'Sugaya|Makoto|M|', 'Masuda|Koji|K|', 'Hiragun|Takaaki|T|', 'Kaneko|Sakae|S|', 'Saeki|Hidehisa|H|', 'Shintani|Yoichi|Y|', 'Tanioka|Miki|M|', 'Imafuku|Shinichi|S|', 'Abe|Masatoshi|M|', 'Inomata|Naoko|N|', 'Morisky|Donald E|DE|', 'Furue|Masutaka|M|', 'Katoh|Norito|N|']
D000284:Administration, Oral D000287:Administration, Topical D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D000935:Antifungal Agents D016903:Drug Monitoring D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination D005260:Female D005500:Follow-Up Studies D006801:Humans D008297:Male D055118:Medication Adherence D008875:Middle Aged D011594:Psychometrics D012189:Retrospective Studies D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D013997:Time Factors D014008:Tinea Pedis D055815:Young Adult
adherence oral topical tinea pedis scale