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REPLY
Measuring Patient Adherence
Barbara J. Turner, MD, and
Frederick M. Hecht, MD
2 July 2002 | Volume 137 Issue 1 | Pages 72-73
IN RESPONSE:
We appreciate the thoughtful comments of Dr. Liu and his coauthors. We understand that the authors feel that their adherence score reflects a composite of several approaches to measure adherence. However, the authors first used electronic monitor data and then filled in missing data points with pill count and, finally, interview data. Our editorial aimed to help the reader understand that electronic monitor data served as the centerpiece of this approach. If a researcher had nearly complete adherence data on his or her study participants from electronic monitors, Liu and colleagues' approach would require minimal additional data from pill counts or patient interviews. Other potential weaknesses of electronic monitors, such as patients "decanting" multiple doses at once, are not addressed by Liu and colleagues' approach. Liu and colleagues' letter reiterates their preference for using electronic monitors to measure adherence and their reluctance to trust patient self-report. In our editorial, we described a study that observed a significant relationship between self-reported adherence to antiretroviral therapy and viral load (1). We believe that carefully collected self-report data still offer promise in evaluating patient adherence to medications. However, strenuous efforts are needed to reduce the known biases of self-report data, such as social desirability, time frame covered by the questions, type of interviewer, language barriers, and poor recall. In many clinical settings, self-report is the best measure we have. In research settings, self-report remains a far less costly, complex, and intrusive method of determining how patients take their medications. Vitolins and coworkers (2) recently reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of multiple adherence measures but concluded that the best option is to use self-report with other "objective" measures. They acknowledged that it is necessary to make the best of a difficult situation but did not dismiss self-report. Similarly, we hope that researchers will continue to investigate ways to improve and supplement self-report as a measure of adherence.
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Author and Article Information
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University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (Turner)
San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, CA 94410 (Hecht)
1. Bangsberg DR, Hecht FM, Charlebois ED, Zolopa AR, Holodniy M, Sheiner L, et al. Adherence to protease inhibitors, HIV-1 viral load, and development of drug resistance in an indigent population AIDS. 2000;14:357-66. [PMID: 10770537].[Medline]
2. Vitolins MZ, Rand CS, Rapp SR, Ribisl PM, Sevick MA. Measuring adherence to behavioral and medical interventions Control Clin Trials. 2000;21(Suppl):188S-94S. [PMID: 11018574].
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Editorials
Improving on a Coin Toss To Predict Patient Adherence to Medications
Barbara J. Turner AND Frederick M. Hecht
- Annals 2001 134: 1004-1006.
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