Medication adherence in patients with epilepsy after a single neurologist visit in rural India

•Mobile clinics can be an effective way to initiate chronic seizure treatment for patients in remote and socioeconomically-challenged areas.•Overall, 72.5% patients reported adherence to antiepileptic medication 7–9 months after a single neurologist visit.•We advocate that patient education and counseling and training of caregivers be an integral component of such mobile clinics.

In India, there are less than 2000 neurologists, and an estimated 5 million patients have epilepsy. With such limited neurological care available, novel treatment approaches for epilepsy are necessary. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a mobile clinic in treating epilepsy. Patients from two mobile clinic stop locations in northern India were contacted 7 and 9 months later for an in-person or over-the-phone survey. Of the 306 eligible patients who had been seen in the selected cities, 142 were interviewed, 72.5% of whom reported that they were still taking medications; among medication-naïve patients, 50.9% were still taking medications. The one-time clinic is effective and could be a model for working towards reducing the wide rural epilepsy treatment gap in India and other countries. Creative follow-up mechanisms need to be developed.