title: Non-compliance and its management in teenagers.
abstract: Renal transplantation restores a patient's endogenous renal function. The benefits of this restoration are especially dramatic in children. However, transplantation is a complex and expensive therapy which, when successful, requires consistent adherence to a complex regimen of drug therapy and clinical follow-up. Transplant medications need to be taken for a lifetime. Whilst very effective, immunosuppressant medications can also cause a number of side-effects and require daily multi-dose schedules. Teenagers, in particular, have problems adhering to these regimens and weighing the consequences of non-compliance. Approaches to improving teenagers' compliance must address both the special circumstances of adolescence and the broad, general problem of post-transplant non-compliance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA. nevin001@tc.umn.edu
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Nevins
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D016312:Treatment Refusal
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents