title: Methods to measure patient compliance with medication regimens.
abstract: Successful pharmacotherapy requires patient compliance with the therapeutic regimen. The rate of non-compliance has been reported to be as low as 15% in some studies and the costs of non-compliance have been estimated to be between $396 and 792 million. Compliance, adherence, and persistence are defined. Subjective and objective methods used to measure compliance are reviewed. Subjective methods include patient self-reporting and physician estimates; these methods are generally inexpensive but have been shown to be unreliable. Objective methods include pill counting, electronic monitoring devices, and data reviews; these methods vary in cost and reliability.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacotherpay Outcomes Research Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA. joanne.lafleur@hsc.utah.edu
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: LaFleur
authors.forename: Gary M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Oderda
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000191:economics*; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*