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With great interest, we read the Pineda-Sic et al’s report on treatment adherence behaviours in rheumatic diseases during COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America.1 They reported that 15.1% of patients with rheumatic disease suspend their medications during COVID-19 crisis.1 Lack of availability (48%) and fear of the immunosuppressive effect of medications (25%) were the most common reasons. To address medication non-adherence in our population, we conducted a study about medication adherence in patients with rheumatic diseases in the East Azarbaijan province, which is one of the provinces of Iran with a high prevalence of COVID-19. The study was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki humanity research declaration (2008). For a period of 2 weeks from 10 to 24 July 2020, information about adherence to medication behaviours of patients after COVID-19 outbreak was obtained by telephone interview in patients with various rheumatic diseases treated …
Footnotes
Contributors Study design: AK, HK, AMM. Data collection: AK, HK, RP, RK, AMM. Data analysis: AK, HK, AMM. Interpretation of findings: AK, HK, AMM. Preparation of manuscript: AK, HK, RK, AMM. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.