ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Ophthalmology
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Diagnosis and Treatment Strategies for UveitisView all 4 articles
Medication Adherence Rates in Patients with Ocular Inflammatory Disease
Provisionally accepted
- 1National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- 2Tan Tock Seng Hospital Department of Ophthalmology, Singapore, Singapore
- 3National Healthcare Group Eye Institute, Singapore, Singapore
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Aim: To evaluate medication adherence patterns in patients with ocular inflammatory disease. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved patients with ocular inflammatory disease who completed a questionnaire assessing demographics, disease characteristics, understanding of condition and medication regimen, self-reported adherence and methods utilised to improve adherence. Accuracy of self-reported responses were validated against electronic hospital records. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with adherence and understanding. Results: Of the 75 patients with ocular inflammatory disease, 14 (18.7%) were evaluated to be highly adherent to their prescribed medications, despite 33 (44%) reporting no perceived barriers to adherence. 38 (50.6%) were unable to recall the purpose of their medications, despite 59 (78.6%) reporting that the purpose of their medications was clearly explained to them. The ability to accurately recall their ocular inflammatory diagnosis (p=0.041) was independently associated with good adherence rates. 19 (25.3%) displayed good understanding of their ophthalmic condition and medication regimen. A higher income was independently associated with good understanding of their condition and medication regimen (p=0.032). Conclusion: Medication adherence in ocular inflammatory disease is suboptimal. Our results indicate a discordance between explained and recalled medication and condition information, impacting adherence negatively. Targeted educational interventions may be required to enhance patients' understanding and retention of key information regarding their ocular inflammatory disease and medication regimen to improve adherence.
Keywords: adherence, Adherence rates, barriers to adherence, Medication Adherence, Ocular inflammatory disease, Targeted educational intervention, understanding, Uveitis
Received: 13 Nov 2025; Accepted: 26 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Chew, Cheng, Agrawal, Ho, Wei and Thng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zhi Rui John Chew
Zheng Xian Thng
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