[Suitability of the Personal Electronic Medication profile for estimation of medication compliance].
BACKGROUND
Denmark operates a so-called personal electronic medication record (PEM) containing information about prescription medicine purchased by patients. This study examined the PEM compliance module in order to determine its suitability for evaluating patient compliance.


METHODS
We collected data from 256 patients who participated in an intervention project conducted on Funen among users of antihypertensive medication. Data were collected from patient information in PEM. The data were used to compare three types of compliance which were all based on information in PEM: 1) calculating compliance, 2) compliance chart, 3) DDD (defined daily doses) chart.


RESULTS
The 256 patients used a total of 1,062 medications (1-13 medications per person). It was not possible to calculate compliance for 240 (23%) medications distributed on 141 patients (55%). Compliance was highest for method 1 and lowest for method 3; conversely, non-compliance was lowest for method 1 and highest for method 3. Combining the three revealed a considerable discrepancy (44-66%) in the assessment of patient compliance.


CONCLUSIONS
The PEMs lacked information for approx. 1/5 of the medications; consequently it was not possible to calculate compliance for these persons. The results indicate that for compliance assessment, PEM quality is less than optimal.
Andersen
Lena Skov
LS
Københavns Universitet, Det Farmaceutiske Fakultet, Institut for Farmakologi og Farmakoterapi & Pharmakon A/S.
Kjeldsen
Lene Juel
LJ
Haugbølle
Lotte Stig
LS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003625:Data Collection; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D055695:Electronic Prescribing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents