Medication Adherence in Epilepsy Management
Summary
Medication adherence in epilepsy is a cornerstone of effective seizure control and reduction of morbidity. Despite the availability of a broad spectrum of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), non-adherence remains common, leading to breakthrough seizures, hospital admissions and elevated healthcare costs. Contributing factors span patient-related issues such as forgetfulness, beliefs about medication necessity and concerns over side effects, to regimen-related factors including polytherapy complexity and dosing frequency. Socioeconomic and healthcare system influences—such as medication cost, access to specialist care and health literacy—further modulate adherence. Recent efforts have concentrated on innovative interventions, from mobile-health reminders and digital adherence monitoring to personalised education programmes and standardised screening tools, with growing evidence that multifaceted approaches yield the greatest improvements. Global epidemiological studies underscore that improving adherence can substantially reduce seizure burden and enhance quality of life, making it a priority across diverse clinical settings.
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Medication Adherence in Epilepsy Management publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in medication adherence in epilepsy management across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs): Medications prescribed to prevent or reduce the occurrence of epileptic seizures.
Medication adherence: The extent to which patients take their medications as prescribed in terms of dose, timing and frequency.
Medication persistence: The duration of time from initiation to discontinuation of therapy without excessive gaps.
Medication possession ratio (MPR): A quantitative measure of adherence calculated as the proportion of days covered by dispensed medication over a specified period.
Healthcare resource utilisation (HCRU): The consumption of medical services such as hospital admissions, outpatient visits and associated costs.
Morisky Medication Adherence Scale: A validated self-report questionnaire used to categorise adherence behaviour into defined levels.
References
- Treatment compliance, treatment patterns, and healthcare utilization in epilepsy patients with first add-on antiepileptic drugs: A nationwide cohort study. Heliyon (2024).
- Epileptic patients’ willingness to receive cell-phone based medication reminder in Northwest Ethiopia. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making (2019).
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of anti-epileptic medication non-adherence among people with epilepsy in Ethiopia. Archives of Public Health (2020).
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