A Hidden Burden: The Impact of Medication Collection in Hospital Pharmacies in Multiple Sclerosis and Migraine Patients
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46531/sinapse/AO/130/2026Keywords:
Community Pharmacy Services, Cost of Illness, Migraine Disorders/drug therapy, Multiple Sclerosis/drug therapy, Pharmacy Service, HospitalAbstract
Introduction: Besides dosage, monitoring, and adverse effects, difficulties in accessing treatment contribute to the overall burden associated with medication. Collecting multiple sclerosis (MS) and migraine medications from Hospital Pharmacy Services (HPS) improves adherence, but the distance from home and the time-consuming process may negatively affect patients' lives. We aimed to evaluate the impact of collecting MS/migraine therapy from HPS.
Methods: This was a single-centre, observational, cross-sectional study based on an anonymous online questionnaire. The questionnaire included data on treatment collection, satisfaction with treatment [Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC)], and disability scales (MSIS-29 for MS; MIDAS for migraine). Adults with MS/migraine who had been collecting medication from HPS for more than 3 months were included. Descriptive statistics were performed using SPSS®.
Results: Among 145 participants (MS = 108; migraine = 37), 64.8% were women, with a median age of 48 years. The average scale scores were PGIC: 5/7; MSIS-29: 42.0%; MIDAS: 21/90. 85.5% of patients collected their medication themselves; however, 34.5% of those responsible for collection frequently or very frequently missed work to do so. On average, patients spent 1.1 hours (σ = 1.0) to reach the hospital (mean distance: 16.1 km, σ = 13.4) and a mean of 1.1 hours (σ = 0.6) waiting at the HPS. The estimated annual time spent (ATS) on medication collection was 13.5 hours/year (σ = 12.4). Waiting time at the HP was a predictor of satisfaction with the collection method, which had a median score of 3 (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree), negatively correlating with ATS (p < 0.001, R² = 0.7 and 0.9). Most participants (73.1%) preferred collecting their medication from a community pharmacy.
Conclusion: For patients with MS and migraine, optimizing the hospital or community medication dispensing process could imply a significant improvement in their quality of life.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Joana Dionísio, Mariana Henriques, Teresa Ascensão Pinheiro, Diogo Antão, Sofia Delgado, André Rêgo, Marlene Saraiva, Sara Machado, Lia Leitão, Elsa Parreira, Mariana Santos
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
