[Teaching intramuscular self-injection in patients with multiple sclerosis reaching interferon beta-1a: evaluation of a descriptive multicenter program]

Abstract

Introduction: In France, self-administration is less common for intramuscular (IM) than parenteral injections, because of the widespread availability of home visits by nurses, who can give these IM injections. An easy, personalized training program was set up to help French patients who wanted to be self-sufficient regarding their injections.

Methods: This noncomparative, open-label, multicenter study enrolled patients aged 18-75 years, diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), with at least 2 relapses during the previous 3 years, no evidence of progression between relapses, and treated with IM interferon beta-1a. The main objective was to assess the proportion of patients able, according to their treating neurologist, to perform the IM injections on their own at the end of an 8-week training program led by nurses.

Results: The study included 440 patients (74% women, mean age=38.7+/-9.8 years) at 98 MS centers. At the end of the study, 87% were assessed as "able" to self-inject, and 86.6% of this group could do so by the second injection. Patients' satisfaction regarding the training program was high (89.4+/-13.4 mm at week 4. 89.5+/-12.1 mm at week 8 on a visual analog scale rated from 0 to 100 mm), as was their satisfaction regarding the injection (82.7+/-21.2 mm at week 4 and 84.2+/-20.0 mm at week 8). The correlation between the nurses' and neurologists' evaluations of the patients' ability to self-inject was high, exceeding>90%.

Conclusion: This large-scale study demonstrated the feasibility of IM self-injection of interferon beta-1a in patients who want to administer their own injections.