Adherence to interferon ß-1b treatment in patients with multiple sclerosis in Spain

Background: Adherence to interferon b-1b (INFb-1b) therapy is essential to maximize the beneficial effects of treatment in multiple sclerosis (MS). For that reason, the main objectives of this study are to assess adherence to INFb-1b in patients suffering from MS in Spain, and to identify the factors responsible for adherence in routine clinical practice. Methodology/Principal Findings: This was an observational, retrospective, cross-sectional study including 120 Spanish patients with MS under INFb-1b treatment. Therapeutic adherence was assessed with Morisky-Green test and with the percentage of doses received. The proportion of adherent patients assessed by Morisky-Green test was 68.3%, being indicative of poor adherence. Nevertheless, the percentage of doses received, which was based on the number of injected medication, was 94.3%. The main reason for missing INFb-1b injections was forgetting some of the administrations (64%). Therefore, interventions that diminish forgetfulness might have a positive effect in the proportion of adherent patients and in the percentage of doses received. In addition, age and comorbidities had a significant effect in the number of doses injected per month, and should be considered in the management of adherence in MS patients. Conclusion/Significance: Among all the available methods for assessing adherence, the overall consumption of the intended dose has to be considered when addressing adherence

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Genetic association study in a cohort of spanish children

Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has a strong genetic component. The study is aimed to test the association of 34 polymorphisms with ADHD symptomatology considering the role of clinical subtypes and sex in a Spanish population. Methods: A cohort of ADHD 290 patients and 340 controls aged 6–18 years were included in a case–control study, stratified by sex and ADHD subtype. Multivariate logistic regression was used to detect the combined effects of multiple variants. Results: After correcting for multiple testing, we found several significant associations between the polymorphisms and ADHD (p value corrected ≤0.05): (1) SLC6A4 and LPHN3 were associated in the total population; (2) SLC6A2, SLC6A3, SLC6A4 and LPHN3 were associated in the combined subtype; and (3) LPHN3 was associated in the male sample. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the influence of these variables for the total sample, combined and inattentive subtype, female and male sample, revealing that these factors contributed to 8.5, 14.6, 2.6, 16.5 and 8.5 % of the variance respectively. Conclusions: We report evidence of the genetic contribution of common variants to the ADHD phenotype in four genes, with the LPHN3 gene playing a particularly important role. Future studies should investigate the contribution of genetic variants to the risk of ADHD considering their role in specific sex or subtype, as doing so may produce more predictable and robust modelsThis study was supported by the following research grants: Fundacion Alicia Koplowitz (4019-004), Biobank of Fundacion Jimenez Diaz Hospital (RD09/0076/00101, Instituto de Salud Carlos III) and the Centre for Biomedical Network Research on Rare Diseases -CIBERER (06/07/0036). The work of CG-S is supported by a Fundacion Conchita Rabago Gran