title: Patient counseling program to improve the compliance to imatinib in chronic myeloid leukemia patients.
abstract: To achieve successful therapeutic outcomes in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), continuous and adequate imatinib (Gleevec(®), Glivec(®), Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Basel, Switzerland) dosing is essential. Here, we report a patient counseling program ("Care club", "Happy club" in Korea) performed to improve patient compliance with imatinib. From January 2006 to December 2008, patients diagnosed with chronic phase CML and taking imatinb were eligible for this retrospective study. A total of 114 patients from 4 centers in Korea were recruited at a 50:50 ratio for Happy club group versus non-Happy club group at each center. During 36-month follow-up, persistency (the number of days of imatinib prescribed versus 1 year) was higher in the Happy club group (98.2 ± 0.03%) than in the non-Happy club group (79.3 ± 0.16%, P = 0.001), whereas dose compliance (miligrams of imatinib that were actually taken versus miligrams that should have been taken) was not different between two groups; 96.5 ± 0.6% and 96.6 ± 0.7% in the Happy club and non-Happy club (P = 0.958). Overall compliance (the product of persistency and dose compliance) improved in the Happy club group (93.0 ± 2.3%) compared with the non-Happy club group (76.2 ± 7.4%, P = 0.001). The patient counseling program was efficient especially in patients who needed high-dose imatinib (>400 mg/day), and overall compliance was 87.8 ± 6.0% in the Happy club group versus 65.5 ± 16.1% in the non-Happy club group (P = 0.017). In conclusion, the patient counseling program was effective in persisting imatinib medication, resulting in the improvement of overall compliance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology/Oncology, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, 200 Dongduk-Ro, Jung-Gu, Daegu 700-721, Korea.
authors.forename: Joon Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Sang Kyun
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sohn
authors.forename: Shi Nae
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seon Yang
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sung Soo
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: In Ho
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyeoung Joon
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yeo Kyeoung
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yoo Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: June Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Cheong
authors.forename: Jin Seok
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chul Won
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Dong Hwan
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001549:Benzamides; D002648:Child; D003376:Counseling; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010879:Piperazines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011379:Prognosis; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001549:Benzamides; D010879:Piperazines; D011743:Pyrimidines; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate