Educational level and job status are the most important factors affecting compliance with oral antihistamine therapy for patients with chronic urticaria

Background: Management of chronic urticaria (CU) is often difficult with oral antihistamines (OAs) despite long-term use. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the extent of medication compliance (MC) and to assess the factors affecting the MC of patients with CU toward OA therapy. Methods: A 43-item questionnaire was administered to 201 adult patients. A compliance score (CS) of 6 points was chosen as a cutoff point. A CS of 0–6 corresponds to poor compliance and score of 6–9, to good compliance. Subsequently, associations with compliant and poorly compliant groups were made by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: The median age and disease duration of all patients were 47 years (range: 18–88) and 15 months (range: 1.5–480), respectively. Overall, the rate of compliant and poorly compliant patients was 53.2% and 46.8%, respectively. Educational level and job status were significantly associated with MC. To have graduated from university and high school increased MC by 9.1-fold (p =.002, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.26–36.37) and 3.6-fold (p =.019, 95% CI: 1.26–13.47), respectively, compared with illiterates. Patients who had worked previously and were currently looking for work were 4.8-fold (p =.032, 95% CI: 1.14–19.97) more compliant than patients who had never worked. Conclusion: Most patients with CU had good compliance with OAs. Educational level and job status were significant predictors of MC to OAs in CU. The impact and long-term effects of education and job status should be evaluated in different patient groups.