Non-compliance with disease modifying therapies in patients with Multiple Sclerosis: A qualitative analysis.

BACKGROUND: Factors associated with adherence to disease modifying therapies (DMT) in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) have been reported before, but little has been studied on compliance to a physician's initial treatment recommendations. The objective of this study was to assess the factors associated with compliance to physician recommended treatment in treatment-naïve patients with MS. METHODS: We studied a cohort of patients with MS followed at an academic MS center in Toronto, Canada between January 2015 and May 2018. We used log-binomial models to identify patient-level factors (age, sex, and smoking history), and MS-specific clinical details (delay in diagnosis, and age at diagnosis) associated with compliance. RESULTS: Of the 332 patients, 256 (77.1%) were recommended DMT and 80 (31.3%) did not follow the recommendation. The most common causes for refusal to initiate DMT were: personal preference to not embark on a medication (46.2%), wishing to use a conservative approach (22.5%) or use of complementary medical approaches (18.8%). Twenty-one () patients who initially were compliant to treatment recommendations subsequently stopped DMT against medical advice. The two most common reasons for this nonadherence included adverse effects (61.8%) and personal preference (19.0%). Every year delay in the diagnosis of MS was associated with a lower risk of compliance (risk ratio 0.97, 95% CI, 0.94-1.00). CONCLUSION: Non-compliance to DMT recommendation in patients with MS in a Canadian practice is sizable, due to patients' own perspectives of disease and their belief in alternative complementary medicine.

Evaluation of ethnicity as a predictor of diagnostic phenotype and prognosis in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder in Toronto, Canada.

BACKGROUND: Recent international studies suggest that ethnicity may predict relapse types and outcomes in NMOSD. Our aim was to evaluate ethnicity as a predictor of diagnostic phenotype and prognosis in a multi-ethnic NMOSD cohort from a single geographic region. METHODS: This was a multi-centre retrospective cohort study of NMOSD subjects in Toronto, Canada. Ethnicity was classified as Asian, black, Caucasian, and other. Regression models were used to assess the relationship between ethnicity and each of diagnostic phenotype (2006 vs. only 2015 diagnostic criteria), annualized relapse rate, and EDSS at last follow-up. RESULTS: Out of 81 patients with NMOSD, 87.7% were female, 70.4% positive for aquaporin-4 (AQP4) IgG, with mean age of onset 38.9 (17) years and median disease duration [IQR] of 9.8 [4.50, 16.59] years. Blacks compared to Asians were less likely to exhibit classic NMO as per 2006 diagnostic criteria (p = 0.006). Caucasians, compared to Asians, had lower EDSS scores at last follow-up (p = 0.008) despite a trend towards higher annualized relapse rates. Older age of onset was significantly associated with greater disability as measured by the EDSS (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: In this multi-ethnic cohort from Toronto, Canada, blacks with NMOSD were less likely than Asians to demonstrate classic NMO by 2006 diagnostic criteria. Caucasians had better long-term disability outcomes compared to Asians as measured by the EDSS.