Over one-quarter of people with rheumatoid arthritis in the UK do not take their medication

Large numbers of people with rheumatoid arthritis are not taking medication as prescribed, according to a UK study published in Rheumatology.

Of the 286 people (from 60 hospitals) in the study, 27% who were prescribed anti-TNF therapies did not take them as prescribed in the first six months.

The experts that carried out the study warn that failure to take the drugs correctly reduces their effectiveness and may lead to a worsening of disease.

“If patients do not take their medication as prescribed it is likely to have a significant effect on whether they respond to therapy and could mean that their condition deteriorates more quickly affecting their quality of life,” says study author, Dr Kimme Hyrich. “Non-adherence is also a waste of scarce healthcare resources and something that needs to be addressed.”

Biologic drugs such as anti-TNF therapy block the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) pathway in the inflammatory process that causes rheumatoid arthritis and have revolutionised treatment of rheumatoid arthritis around the world. But these drugs cost between £8,000 and £12,000 a year per patient.

It is not clear from the study whether people didn’t take their drugs on purpose or by accident and research is now looking at why people with rheumatoid arthritis may not always take their medications as prescribed.

“Anti-TNF drugs have transformed the lives of a substantial number of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and related disorders,” comments Prof Alan Silman, medical director of Arthritis Research UK. “This success has been at a considerable cost to the NHS but there was always the assumption that patients prescribed these drugs will have the necessary regular injections. The fact that a considerable proportion of patients are missing doses of these very expensive agents is worrying, as clearly their effectiveness would be reduced.”

Image credit: John D