Abstracts

Rationale: Most of the currently available methods and tools for the medication compliance confirmation is dependent upon either the memory of the patient her/himself or the personal record, aside from the automated recording system such as MEMS(medication event monitoring system) bottle. The ultimate method to confirm the medication compliance is to have the patients take their drugs in front of the family members or the third parties, but since in some countries, such as Japan, those medication is prescribed by the PTP (push through package) sheet basis, not by the bottle, establishment of the more suitable compliance checking system to their own prescription system and culture is in demand. In this study, we have introduced our newly innovated simple electronic card device (Your Manager YRM) system to evaluate its usefulness to the patients with epilepsy. Methods: 20 patients were included in this study. Among them, 10 patients were randomly included into the group of YRM evaluation, while another 10 were controls. 24 weeks of total evaluation period were divided into 3 semesters, when the 1st and the last semesters were baseline period for the controls. MPR (medication possession ratio) was calculated in each group for the evaluation of medication compliances. Results: The average age of 11 male and 9 female patients was 34.1, with 1-6 different types of drugs (1-4 for AEDs), mean 2.70 (AEDs 2.25). MPR counts for the three semesters were (0.951, 0.935, 0.964) for YRM group, (0.933, 0.952, 0.936) for the controls, respectively. Focusing on the individual patients, MPR observed counts were (0.893, 1.000, 0.982) in a patient from the YRM group, to show its effectiveness. YRM was also effective in the other elderly. There was one patient whose poor medication adherence was revealed only by this study, resulted in the conversion from the surgical candidate to the medication treatment. Conclusions: MPR score in our patents in both groups rated higher than previously reported in the other studies. The usefulness of YRM, though, seemed to be limited, compared with our previous study for other group of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. In Japan, where prescription is based upon PTP basis, we must find the more suitable system for the medication adherence checking for the people with epilepsy.