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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">KJIM</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine</journal-title><abbrev-journal-title>Korean J Intern Med</abbrev-journal-title></journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="ppub">1226-3303</issn>
<issn pub-type="epub">2005-6648</issn>
<publisher>
<publisher-name>The Korean Association of Internal Medicine</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3904/kjim.2018.269</article-id>
<article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">kjim-2018-269</article-id>
<article-categories>
<subj-group>
<subject>Correspondence</subject></subj-group></article-categories>
<title-group>
<article-title>Response to comment on &#x0201c;Medication nonadherence in Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis: the importance of belief about medication and illness perception&#x0201d;</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Suh</surname><given-names>Young Sun</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="af1-kjim-2018-269"><sup>1</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Cheon</surname><given-names>Yun-Hong</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="af1-kjim-2018-269"><sup>1</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Kim</surname><given-names>Hyun-Ok</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="af1-kjim-2018-269"><sup>1</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Kim</surname><given-names>Rock-Bum</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="af2-kjim-2018-269"><sup>2</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Park</surname><given-names>Ki Soo</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="af2-kjim-2018-269"><sup>2</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Kim</surname><given-names>Sang-Hyon</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="af3-kjim-2018-269"><sup>3</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Lee</surname><given-names>Seung-Geun</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="af4-kjim-2018-269"><sup>4</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Park</surname><given-names>Eun-Kyoung</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="af4-kjim-2018-269"><sup>4</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Hur</surname><given-names>Jian</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="af5-kjim-2018-269"><sup>5</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Lee</surname><given-names>Sang-Il</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="corresp" rid="c1-kjim-2018-269"/>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="af1-kjim-2018-269"><sup>1</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<aff id="af1-kjim-2018-269">
<label>1</label>Department of Internal Medicine and Health Science Institute, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, <country>Korea</country></aff>
<aff id="af2-kjim-2018-269">
<label>2</label>Department of Preventive Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, <country>Korea</country></aff>
<aff id="af3-kjim-2018-269">
<label>3</label>Department of Internal Medicine, Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center, Daegu, <country>Korea</country></aff>
<aff id="af4-kjim-2018-269">
<label>4</label>Department of Internal Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Busan, <country>Korea</country></aff>
<aff id="af5-kjim-2018-269">
<label>5</label>Department of Internal Medicine, Yeungnam University Medical Center, Daegu, <country>Korea</country></aff>
</contrib-group>
<author-notes>
<corresp id="c1-kjim-2018-269">Correspondence to Sang-Il Lee, M.D. Department of Internal Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, 79 Gangnam-ro, Jinju 52727, Korea Tel: +82-55-750-8853 Fax: +82-55-758-9122 E-mail: <email>goldgu@gnu.ac.kr</email></corresp>
</author-notes>
<pub-date pub-type="ppub">
<month>11</month>
<year>2018</year></pub-date>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>30</day>
<month>10</month>
<year>2018</year></pub-date>
<volume>33</volume>
<issue>6</issue>
<fpage>1254</fpage>
<lpage>1254</lpage>
<history>
<date date-type="received">
<day>21</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2018</year></date>
<date date-type="accepted">
<day>23</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2018</year></date>
</history>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright &#x000A9; 2018 The Korean Association of Internal Medicine</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2018</copyright-year>
<license>
<license-p>This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/</ext-link>) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</license-p></license></permissions>
<related-article related-article-type="letter" id="ra1-kjim-2018-269" vol="33" page="1252"><article-title>Comment on “Medication nonadherence in Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis: the importance of belief about medication and illness perception”</article-title></related-article>
</article-meta></front>
<body>
<p>Thank you for your interest in the article entitled &#x0201c;Medication nonadherence in Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis: the importance of belief about medication and illness perception&#x0201d; and your comments.</p>
<p>First, we divided into two groups, unintentional and intentional group, and if a patient has both intentional nonadherence behavior and unintentional nonadherence behavior, we classified them as unintentional nonadherence group. This is because we focus on intentional nonadherence, which can be improved rather than unintentional nonadherence. Secondly, we measured adherence by the tools presented in the reference literature &#x0005b;<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b1-kjim-2018-269">1</xref>&#x0005d; and that was validated. Finally, it was difficult to assess adherence with each drug because we investigated adherence through the questionnaire, the patient was unable to distinguish between drugs. Instead, we analyzed adherence with daily medication (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and/or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs group), once a week medication (methotrexate group), and biological medication.</p>
<p>We appreciate your interests in our article and we hope that our explanation has addressed your questions.</p>
</body>
<back>
<fn-group>
<fn fn-type="conflict"><p>No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.</p></fn>
</fn-group>
<ref-list>
<title>REFERENCES</title>
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</person-group>
<article-title>Predictors of persistence and adherence with secondary preventive medication in stroke patients</article-title>
<source>J Agric Med Community Health</source>
<year>2015</year>
<volume>40</volume>
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</element-citation></ref>
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</back></article>