Medication-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Pemphigus and Bullous Pemphigoid at the Institute of Dermatology

Abstract

Objective: To assess medication-related quality of life and identify associated factors among patients with pemphigus and bullous pemphigoid at the Institute of Dermatology. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among 178 patients aged 18–90 years at the Institute of Dermatology between January 22 and May 16, 2025. Data were collected using the Patient-reported Outcomes Measure of Pharmaceutical Therapy (PROMPT) questionnaire and analyzed with descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. Results: The overall medication-related quality of life score of the patients was 75.50 ± 12.78 out of 100. The highest-scoring domain was “Impacts of Medicines Use and Side-effects” (91.43 ± 20.42 out of 100), while the lowest was “Psychological Impacts of Medication Use” (69.49 ± 25.48 out of 100). Multiple linear regression showed that male had higher scores in the “Convenience” domain than females. Older patients had lower scores in the “Medicine and Disease Information” and “Medicine Effectiveness” domains than younger patients. Patients with lower education levels had lower scores in the “Availability and Accessibility” domain than those with higher education. Patients in remission had higher scores in the “Medicine Effectiveness,” “Availability and Accessibility,” and “Overall Quality of Life” domains compared with those with active disease. In addition, patients receiving systemic corticosteroids had higher scores in the “Impacts of Medicines Use and Side-effects” domain than those not receiving systemic corticosteroids or immunosuppressants. Conclusion: Sex, age, education level, current disease status and medication regimens were significant factors associated with medication-related quality of life. These findings may serve as a basis for planning appropriate drug therapy and patient-centered care.