Medication Adherence Measures: An Overview

• Type: Another Publication in an International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2015

Authors

Lam, WY (Author) Other; Fresco, P (Author) FFUP

Journal

Title: BioMed Research International

Vol. 2015 No. ID 531789

Pages: 1-12

ISSN: 2314-6133

Publisher: Hindawi

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 178 Citations

Scopus - 399 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00G-TNC

DOI: 10.1155/2015/217047

Abstract (EN): WHO reported that adherence among patients with chronic diseases averages only 50% in developed countries. This is recognized as a significant public health issue, since medication nonadherence leads to poor health outcomes and increased healthcare costs. Improving medication adherence is, therefore, crucial and revealed on many studies, suggesting interventions can improve medication adherence. One significant aspect of the strategies to improve medication adherence is to understand its magnitude. However, there is a lack of general guidance for researchers and healthcare professionals to choose the appropriate tools that can explore the extent of medication adherence and the reasons behind this problem in order to orchestrate subsequent interventions. This paper reviews both subjective and objective medication adherence measures, including direct measures, those involving secondary database analysis, electronic medication packaging (EMP) devices, pill count, and clinician assessments and self-report. Subjective measures generally provide explanations for patient's nonadherence whereas objective measures contribute to a more precise record of patient's medication-taking behavior. While choosing a suitable approach, researchers and healthcare professionals should balance the reliability and practicality, especially cost effectiveness, for their purpose. Meanwhile, because a perfect measure does not exist, a multimeasure approach seems to be the best solution currently.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 12