Poorer Kids with RA Less Adherent to Therapy

The results of a recent study show that patients with juvenilerheumatoid arthritis (RA) in lower-income families are lesslikely to stay on their therapies than their wealthier counterparts.The report appeared in the December 15, 2005, issue ofArthritis & Rheumatism.

University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City,researchers used electronic monitoring devices to study thepatterns of adherence to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatorydrugs in 48 newly diagnosed patients with juvenile RA.Adherence was not affected by patient age, sex, parentalmarital status or education, or complexity of patients' medicationregimen.

Over 28 consecutive days, 25 patients were >80% adherent,while 23 were not.The researchers noted that active jointcount and socioeconomic status were the only significantpredictors. This finding disproves previous theories of childhoodadherence as being symptom-driven, and that specialattention needs to be paid to low-income families.