Prevalence and associated factors of medication non-adherence in CRS patients following endoscopic sinus surgery

This study aimed to evaluate factors that may predispose patients to not adhere to prescribed medication after endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) and to compare SNOT-22 scores at 0–12 months post-operatively between adherent and non-adherent patients. CRS patients who underwent ESS between 2012 and 2016 were recruited to this retrospective cohort study. Adherence was assessed through a questionnaire and review of medical notes. Ninety-four participants were included (61% male, mean age 60). Of those, 66% did not adhere to their prescribed post-operative CRS medication timing or dosage. The most common reason for non-adherence was improvement of symptoms (17%), followed by deterioration of symptoms (11%) and side effects (10%). Post-operative SNOT-22 scores were lowest for non-intentionally non-adherent (NINA) participants with a mean of 10.5 [95% CI: 7.47–13.5], compared to 25.0 for intentionally non-adherent (INA) [95% CI: 17.6–32.4] and 17.7 for adherent patients [95% CI: 13.7–21.7], p = 0.01. This study identifies that almost two-thirds of patients are not compliant with CRS medications after ESS. NINA participants reported lower post-operative SNOT-22 scores compared to INA and adherent participants. Future studies should focus on educating patients to continue with medications post-operatively despite an initial improvement in symptoms.