Omid Eslami - GastroenterologyandHepatologyResearchCenter, Institute of Basic and Clinical Physiology Sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Amir Norooznezhad - Inflammation Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Shafieh Movassaghi - Rheumatology Research center, Vali-Asr Hospital, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Tehran, Iran.
Neda Naderi - Nephrology Research Center, Center of Excellence in Nephrology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Abdolrahman Rostamian - Rheumatology Research Center, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Taraneh Dormohammadi Toosi - Rheumatology Research center, Vali-Asr Hospital, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Tehran, Iran. Rheumatology Division, University of San Diego, CA, USA.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disease with an unknown aetiology. Although there is no definite treatment for this disease using proper prescribed medications, mortality and morbidity ratios could be decreased. The present study attempted to investigate adherence to medical treatment in patients suffering from SLE and to evaluate the related factors which influence adherence in order to improve patients’ prognoses. In this cross-sectional study, 132 patients with SLE who referred to the rheumatology clinic of Imam Khomeini Hospital (Tehran, Iran) over the period of 2012-2013 wereexamined using a questionnaire. The applied questionnaire included two parts; the first part pertained to adherence to medication treatments (CQR: compliance questionnaire rheumatology), and the second part was related to the factors involved in adherence to medication treatments. The obtained data were analyzed using the Chi-Square test and processed by SPSS16.0 software.In this research, the mean adherence to drug treatment was calculated to be 72.48%. Among the variables of age, marital status, salary, education, distance from the clinic (accessibility), disease duration, level of patient activity, main medications consumed, and side effects, the only significant association was found between adherence level and lack of side effects due to SLE (p <0.05). One hypothesis regarding the cause of appropriate adherence to medical treatment in the studied group could be the hopeof never experiencing side effects; however, more investigation is needed to prove this theory.

Systemic lupus erythematosus, Treatment Adherence, Drug side effect