Factors associated with medication adherence in adolescents with ADHD

Abstract

Objective          To study factors associated with medication adherence in adolescents with ADHD

Method            This is cross-sectional study of patients aged 12-18 years who were diagnosed as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and received psychiatric care at Ramathibodi hospital. The measurements were: 1) information from patient questionnaires. 2) information from parent questionaires, 3) the Thai version SNAP-IV questionnaire for parents and teachers

Results             There were 81 subjects in the study (79% were boy) with the mean age of 13.9 ± 1.5 years, Methylphenidate was the most common prescribed medication (66.7%), average duration of taking medication to the survey date was 3.9 ± 2.5 years, 87.1 % of subjects were treated with single ADHD medication, 64.9 % were defied as non-adherence (lack of medicines more than one meal/day from 2 days/week and up). The most common side effects was poor appetite. There were no association between ADHD symptoms evaluated by the SNAP-IV-P and medication non-adherence (r = .175, p-value = .170). Non-adherence subjects were statistically significant more treated with methylphenidate than extended-release methylphenidate. (t = -2.21, p = 0.03,  ᵡ² = 7.96, p = 0.005)

Conclusion             Most adolescent ADHD were non adherence to medication and more taking methylphenidate than adherence patients. But there are no difference of ADHD symptoms between medication adherence and non-adherence subject. 

Key words         attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder , adolescent , compliance, medication adherence