Abstract:
Background: Childhood epilepsy causes a tremendous burden for the child, the family,
society as well as the healthcare system. Adherence to anti-epileptic drugs(AEDs) is a key
to treatment success. Poor adherence has been considered as one of the main causes of
unsuccessful treatment for epilepsy and presents a potential ongoing challenge for
achieving a key therapeutic goal of seizure control.
Objective: This study aimed to assess adherence to antiepileptic drugs and associated
factors among children with epilepsy attending the Pediatrics neurology follow up clinic of
Jimma Medical Center, Ethiopia.
Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among children
with epilepsy attending the Pediatrics neurology follow up clinic of Jimma Medical Center
from June- 21 to September- 20, 2021. Data were collected by using a semi-structured pre-
tested questionnaire. Epi data version 3.1 and SPSS version 26.0 were used for data entry
and for analysis respectively. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regresion analysis
were employed. Adjusted odds ratios were used to ascertain effect sizes for any association
between the dependent and associated variables while significance level at p-value of
<0.05 was determined using 95% confidence intervals.
Result: A total of 170 children with epilepsy were included in this study. About 54.7%
were male and 44.7% were in age range of 10-17 years. Among the study participants
included, the overall adherence to anti-epileptic drugs was 54.1%. Those caregivers who
were married[AOR=7.46 (95% CI= 1.46, 38.20)], those with controlled seizure
status[AOR= 3.64 (95% CI= 1.51, 8.78)], those who got appropriate health care[AOR=
7.08(95% CI= 2.91, 17.24)], those caregivers who had good knowledge[AOR= 5.20(95%
CI= 2.60,14.83)] and positive attitude[AOR= 2.57 (95% CI= 1.06, 6.28)] were
significantly associated with adherence to AEDs.Conclusions: More than half of the children/adolescents having epilepsy were adherent to
their anti-epileptic medication(s). In addition, children‟s adherence to AEDs was
influenced by different factors such as current marital status of the parents/caregivers,
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controlled seizure status, not facing problems in the hospital during health care delivery,
caregiver‟s knowledge and attitude towards epilepsy.
Recommedations: More efforts are required to scale up the provision of client-centred
service to encourage children/adolescents with epilepsy to be adherent to their
medication(s). Further, a deep and well-designed study that includes a quantitative and
qualitative approach is recommended to address other hidden factors that are associated
with adherence to AEDs
