A study of treatment adherence and quality of life among adults with chronic urticaria in Singapore

BACKGROUND Chronic urticaria is a common skin condition that causes significant impact on patient's quality of life. OBJECTIVE The purpose of the study was to assess adherence to therapy and quality of life of patients with chronic urticaria. We also aimed to study the relationship of medication adherence and quality of life of patients with chronic urticaria. METHODS A cross sectional study was conducted with 103 patients from the dermatology clinic of National University Hospital, Singapore. Patients with chronic urticaria were asked to fill out a questionnaire for assessment of adherence to therapy and quality of life. We used the Morisky 8-Item Medication Adherence Scale to categorize adherence as high, medium, low. For assessment of quality of life, we used the validated chronic urticaria quality of life questionnaire (CU-Q2oL) by Bairadani et al. RESULTS The highest median scores for the items measuring quality of life were interference with sleep and pruritus. We also observed that the majority of patients (71.9%) had low adherence to medical therapy. No difference in adherence was noted in patients on once daily medication or more frequent dosing. There was no significant difference in the quality of life among patients with low and medium adherence to therapy. CONCLUSION Quality of life of patients with chronic urticaria does not depend on the patients' adherence to medications. Dosing frequency does not affect adherence in our study population. It is also important to recognize the symptoms and issues most affecting quality of life of patients with chronic urticaria, so as to improve overall management.