Non-adherence to colchicine treatment is a common misevaluation in familial Mediterranean fever

Background/aim: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is a hereditary autoinflammatory disease that requires lifelong colchicine treatment. Colchicine is the mainstay of the treatment, which decreases the frequency and the severity of recurrent FMF attacks and prevents the development of amyloidosis. This study aimed to investigate the rates of colchicine treatment adherence in patients with FMF and the factors related to treatment non-adherence. Materials and methods: This observational study was conducted with 179 patients with FMF between November 2018 and April 2019 in a tertiary rheumatology outpatient clinic. The sociodemographic and clinical data were recorded. Compliance Questionnaire on Rheumatology (CQR) was used to assess the treatment adherence and the Beliefs About Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ-T) was used to assess a patient's beliefs about colchicine. The factors associated with adherence to the treatment were evaluated. Results: The study included 113 male (63.1%) and 66 (36.9%) female patients with a mean age of 30 (25­44) years. The rate of the patients who declared regular colchicine usage was 66.5%. The frequency of non-adherent patients was 83.8% according to CQR. Treatment adherence was better in patients with comorbid diseases than those without (41.4% vs. 22%, respectively, p = 0.028). The frequency of married patients in the adherent group (72.4%) was higher than the non-adherent group (47.3%) (p = 0.013). The colchicine dose used in the adherent group was 1.5 (1.3­1.8) mg/day, whereas it was 1.5 (1.0­1.5) mg/day in the non-adherent group (p = 0.033). The adherence rate was rising with increasing scores of BMQ-T Specific Necessity. As the scores of BMQ-T General Overuse and General Harm increased, non-adherence to colchicine increased. Conclusion: Evaluating adherence to colchicine treatment with objective methods is crucial to ensure sufficient treatment and prevent amyloidosis. Determining beliefs about colchicine may increase patients' adherence to treatment.