MedWire News: People with inflammatory bowel disease should stick to their recommended treatment plan to reduce their risk of disease flare-ups and complications, but many young patients and those with busy lives fail to do so, researchers have found.

The team says that better communication is needed between doctors and their bowel disease patients about the benefits of taking recommended medications on time and in the right doses.

“Inflammatory bowel diseases are chronic conditions requiring medication throughout life to treat the disease and control the risk of relapse and colorectal cancer. Adherence to prescribed drugs is therefore crucial to their management,” explain Dr R D’Incà, from the University of Padua in Italy, and colleagues.

To investigate the reasons why some people with inflammatory bowel disease fail to stick with their treatment plans, the researchers asked 485 patients with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis who were attending a treatment centre to complete an ‘anonymous’ questionnaire.

In total, 61% of the patients reported that they always took their medications as advised.

Among the remaining patients, those under 40 years of age were significantly less likely to stick to their treatment plans than older patients, particularly if they had poor communication with their doctors.

The most common reasons for failing to stick to a treatment plan included forgetfulness, not having experienced any recent symptoms and having a busy lifestyle.

People who took oral medications for their disease were more likely to stick to their treatment plans than those on rectal medications.

Writing in the journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Dr D’Incà and team summarise: “This study identified a significant problem of non-adherence in our group of inflammatory bowel disease patients. Patients at higher risk were younger, with a busy working life, and relatively short duration of disease.”

They conclude: “Assuming that better adherence will help improve health outcomes, these patients deserve tailored programmes with a special emphasis on patient–doctor communication, with doctors who can understand the patient’s lifestyle and treatment preferences, and patients who agree with their doctors’ prescriptions and appreciate their advice.”