Table 2.
Association of adherence to medication, patients’ evaluation of their knowledge about their treatment and conditions and QOL with TBQ global score (n = 610)
| TBQ global score, mean ± SD | Spearman correlation coefficient | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adherence to treatment assessed by the MMAS-8a |
|
|
|
| High and moderate adherence |
37.7 ± 27.5 |
– |
<0.0001 |
| Low adherence |
61.8 ± 30.5 |
– |
<0.0001 |
| Patients’ evaluation of their knowledge of: |
|
|
|
| Their treatmentsb |
|
|
|
| Sufficient |
47.8 ± 30.4 |
– |
<0.0001 |
| Insufficient |
62.3 ± 31.3 |
– |
<0.0001 |
| Their conditionsb |
|
|
|
| Sufficient |
49.3 ± 30.7 |
– |
<0.0001 |
| Insufficient |
63.0 ± 31.6 |
– |
<0.0001 |
| Quality of life assessed by the PLMQOLc |
|
|
|
| Physical QOL |
− |
−0.39 |
<0.0001 |
| Mental QOL |
− |
−0.50 |
<0.0001 |
| Social QOL |
− |
−0.49 |
<0.0001 |
| Overall assessment of QOL | − | −0.50 | <0.0001 |
PLMQOL, PatientsLikeMe Quality of Life; QOL, quality of life; TBQ, Treatment Burden Questionnaire.
aHigh adherence is a score of 8; medium adherence, 6 to 7; and low adherence, <6 [24]. b‘Very sufficient’ and ‘sufficient’ was considered sufficient and ‘average’, ‘insufficient’ and ‘very insufficient’was considered insufficient.
cPLMQOL assesses physical, mental and social QOL; high scores indicate better QOL, while negative correlation coefficients indicate that patients with high treatment burden have low QOL.