Table 1 Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of MS patients according to their medication adherence (n = 598)

0.096^a

 Southern

170 (28.4%)

20 (11.8%)

150 (88.2%)

 Middle

150 (25.1%)

20 (13.3%)

130 (86.7%)

 East

114 (19.1%)

8 (7.0%)

106 (93.0%)

 North

28 (4.7%)

0.0

28 (100.0%)

 West

136 (22.7%)

10 (7.4%)

126 (92.6%)

0.720^a

 Male

214 (35.8%)

22 (10.3%)

192 (89.7%)

 Female

384 (64.2%)

36 (9.4%)

348 (90.6%)

Age in years, mean ± SD (range)

32.4 ± 8.5 (15–60)

33.5 ± 9.9 (15–56)

32.3 ± 8.3 (15–60)

0.323^b

0.597^a

 Single

250 (41.8%)

24 (9.6%)

226 (90.4%)

 Married

310 (51.8%)

34 (11.0%)

276 (89.0%)

 Divorced

36 (6.0%)

0.0

36 (100.0%)

 Widower

2 (0.4%)

0.0

2 (100.0%)

< 0.001^a

 Illiterate

4 (0.7%)

2 (50.0%)

2 (50.0%)

 Primary

12 (2.0%)

2 (16.7%)

10 (83.3%)

 Intermediate

28 (4.7%)

12 (42.9%)

16 (57.1%)

 Secondary

140 (23.4%)

4 (2.9%)

136 (97.1%)

 University

414 (69.2%)

38 (9.2%)

376 (90.8%)

Age at disease onset mean ± SD (range)

25.9 ± 7.9 (13–56)

27.3 ± 10.4 (14–51)

25.7 ± 7.6 (13–56)

0.136

Disease duration in years (mean ± SD)

6.6 ± 4.8

6.1 ± 4.5

6.6 ± 4.8

0.476^b

No. of hospital admissions, mean ± SD

1.4 ± 1.7

1.1 ± 1.4

1.4 ± 1.7

0.139^b

No. of attacks during last 2 years, mean ± SD (range)

1.4 ± 1.9 (0–14)

1.5 ± 1.0 (0–4)

1.9 ± 2.0 (0–14)

0.118^b

0.032^a

 Interferon beta-1b (SC)

144 (24.1)

14 (9.7)

130 (90.3)

 Interferon beta-1a (SC)

112 (18.7)

8 (7.1)

104 (92.9)

 Interferon beta-1a (IM)

100 (16.7)

12 (12.0)

88 (88.0)

 Fingolimod (PO)

104 (17.4)

18 (17.3)

86 (82.7)

 Others

90 (15.4)

4 (4.4)

86 (95.6)

PDDS (mean ± SD)

2.8 ± 1.9

3.1 ± 2.3

2.8 ± 2.00

0.219^b