W1221 Side Effects of Azathioprine in the Treatment of Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease

(age, gender, study level, working status, personal status), data concerning the disease (type of IBD, year of diagnosis, number of hospital admissions, IBD-related surgical procedures), data about therapy (drug, dose, interval), self-applied adhesion declaration and self-medication. An activity index was calculated on the spot (Harvey-Bradshaw/Truelove) Results: Mean age was 41.3±11 years, 60% were women. The number of years since IBD diagnosis was 8±7; 64% were Crohn's disease (71% inactive), 36% ulcerative colitis (70% inactive). A 66% was treated with aminosalicylates, 51%with immunosuppressors, 8% with glucocorticoids. A 66% needed an IBD-related hospital admission in the past, and 17% any IBD-related surgical procedure. A 69% (95%CI: 60-77%) showed some type of non-adhesion. A 66% (57-75%) acknowledged dome degree of involuntary non-adhesion: either forgetting to take their dose (63%) or being careless about having taken it (27%). A 16% (9-22%) showed some kind of voluntary non-adhesion: interrupting the therapy when feeling better (13%) or when feeling worse (6%). A 25% (17-33%) forgot at least a dose a week (mean weekly number of forgotten doses 1.6), and the most frequent cause was to be away form home when they were supposed to take the medication. This was more frequent under mesalazine therapy (30%) than with azathioprine (17%) (p=n.s.). A multivariate analysis identified as risk factors for a lower adhesion the dosing in three or more takes a day (OR 3; 95%CI 1.1-8.4; p= 0.03) and feeling little informed about their disease (OR 4.9; 95%CI 1.1-23.8; p=0.04). On the other hand, immunomodulator therapy was a predictive factor for better adhesion (OR 0.29; 95%CI 0.11-0.74; p=0.01). The concordance between patient recall and clinical records was complete in 86%, whereas in 10.3% the patients did not accurately remember the dose and in 3.7% there was confusion about the drug taken. A 9% acknowledged self-medication during flares Conclusions: In our setting, adhesion to therapy in IBD patients is not satisfactory. Patients treated with immunosuppressors have better adhesion. Optimizing the information on the disease and giving the medication in one or two daily doses could enhance therapeutic adhesion