Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Objective: To assess adherence to asthma medications among pediatric population in Saudi Arabia, correlate poor adherence with the level of asthma control and investigate the factors that may influence the patient's adherence.

Methods: This cross-sectional study includes 319 pediatric participants. They are recruited from two pediatric Asthma Clinics at King Abdullah Medical City, KAMC and Maternity and Children Hospital, MCH in Makkah by using a valid Arabic translation of the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8).

Results: Our study group consisted of total 319 patients, male 45.1% and female 54.9% with a mean age of 6.34±7.35 years, the adherence rate among children by MMAS-8 identified in 35.1% were low adherence rate, while medium adherence were 64.9%. The adherence rate significantly increased with the parent's educational level among mothers (P-Value≤0.001) while the

fathers is (P-Value=0.004). Moreover, the prevalence of parents concern about asthmatic medication side effects of long-term usage is 56.7% while 43.3% of parents are not.

Conclusion: The studies in Saudi Arabia showed high prevalence of asthma among children and a high rate of poor asthma control, yet no studies was conducted to assess the rate of pediatric adherence to asthma medication also the burden of the problem of non-adherence among asthmatic children in terms of medical complications, educational problems and healthcare cost, although the lack of studies in Saudi Arabia in particular and Middle East in general. Routine screening for bronchial asthma risk factors among children, promotes the education about risk factors of bronchial asthma as well as the morbidity

of poor adherence and the benefits of strict adherence to asthma medication, may improve the adherence rates to asthma medication as well as the severity of asthma.