title: Riboflavin as a tracer of medication compliance.
abstract: Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the accuracy of urine ultraviolet fluorescent tests for riboflavin, which has been used as a tracer for medication compliance in several clinical drug trials. Observer accuracy in discriminating riboflavin-positive or negative urine samples was found to vary with the method of observation, dose of riboflavin, observer experience, and time postingestion. The results showed that, while the 5-mg dose used in previous clinical trials was too small to permit reliable assessment of compliance, larger doses of riboflavin could produce nearly 100% accuracy for minimally trained observers who used a matching-to-sample observation procedure. The findings are discussed in terms of the potential clinical and research applications of this type of simple but reliable compliance assessment procedure.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004358:Drug Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010779:Photofluorography; D012256:Riboflavin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000652:urine
chemical_list: D012256:Riboflavin