Background: Rate of non-adherence to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs)
in children is about 33%. Engaging clinical pharmacists in the
management of patients has proved to increase adherence to medications
which will improve the outcomes of treatment.
Objectives: To investigate the effect of a clinical
pharmacist-led educational tool on the adherence to AEDs in pediatric
patients with epilepsy. Secondary outcomes include effectiveness and
safety of AEDs, satisfaction with information about AEDs provided to the
caregivers, and patients quality of life (QoL).
Methods: This was an interventional study where
pediatric patients were randomly assigned to the intervention
(n=41) or the control (n=40) group. A 30-minute clinical
pharmacist-led educational interview to the parent/caregiver was
provided to the intervention group as add-on to standard medical care
received by the control group. Outcomes were measured at baseline and
after eight-week follow-up.
Results: The intervention group had an increase in mean
adherence score from 6 ± 1.09 at baseline to 7.6 ± 0.9 at follow up
(P-value < 0.001), while the control group had no
significant change (P-value > 0.05), the difference
between the two groups at follow-up was significant (P-value
<0.0001). No significant difference was observed between
groups at follow up with regard to effectiveness (P- value
> 0.05), and safety (P-value=0.08). While higher
satisfaction with information (P-value <0.0001), and
higher QoL (P-value <0.05) was observed in the
intervention group. There was a significant positive correlation between
satisfaction and adherence (r=0.682, P-value <
0.0001), adherence and QoL (r=0.323, P-value <
0.01), satisfaction and QoL (r=0.298, P-value < 0.05).
While, satisfaction and safety, safety and QoL correlated significantly
and negatively (r=-0.263, P-value < 0.05 and r=-0.782,
P-value < 0.0001, respectively)
Conclusion: Clinical pharmacist-led educational tool
had a positive outcome on pediatric patients with epilepsy with regard
to adherence, effectiveness, safety, satisfaction with information about
AEDs, and QoL.