Objectives: The therapy of the inflammatory bowel diseases is quite complex. A partial compliance increases the relapse probability and the health expenditure. The aim of the study is to correctly study the adherence to the therapy in a single centre eliminating the bias of a different relationship of trust with different doctors. Materials and methods: We conducted a blind prospective study on the adherence evaluated for mesalazine. Results: 376 patients were included in the final analysis.

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... 4% of the patients never missed a single dose of mesalazine, 29.3% missed 1 or 2 doses, 7.4% missed 3 to 4 doses, 5.9% missed more than 5 doses. A greater adherence among males (P = 0.015) and, in ulcerative colitis, among the group with a disease duration of less than 2 years compared to the one with a disease duration between 2 and 5 years (P = 0.04) were found. In Crohn's diseases, among the patients who had never undergone to surgical interventions, the adherence was 49.6%, compared to 51.9% among patients who underwent to one surgical resection and 78.6% among patients underwent to multiple surgical resections (P = 0.001). Conclusions: The factors influencing the adherence to the therapy are only partly related to the prescribed therapy, but also to factors affecting the patient life: to increase the adherence rate it would be necessary not only interventions on the posology but also the psychological support to the patient at the time of the visit.