Standardized method to assess medicines' acceptability: focus on paediatric population.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article was to present an original standardized tool assessing the medicine's acceptability whichever their characteristics and the patient features.


METHODS
An acceptability map was built with objective measures from medicine use assessments collected in real-life conditions. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used for the mapping process. Hierarchical classification on the principal components (HCPC) of the MCA was performed for the clustering process corresponding to distinct acceptability profiles.


RESULTS
The results presented here focus on 234 evaluations issued from the paediatric population and gathered in four clusters: 'well-accepted' (50%), 'accepted' (19%), 'poorly accepted' (25%) and 'not accepted' medicines (6%). The first one was characterized by a dose fully taken, in a short time, with a patient's positive reaction; the second by a longer administration time, a neutral reaction and the use of methods to achieve administration (reward, divided dose). Differentiation between the two last clusters was, respectively, originated by a required dose partially taken or not taken.


CONCLUSIONS
The acceptability profile of each medicine can be evaluated with the map position of the related patient's assessments barycentre. This tool should satisfy expectations in terms of methods for appropriate acceptability evaluation and standardized comparison among medicines.
ClinSearch -110, Malakoff, France.
Fabrice
F
Ruiz
ClinSearch -110, Malakoff, France.|Laboratoire Conception de Produits et Innovation (LCPI) - Arts et Métiers ParisTech - 151, Boulevard de l'Hôpital, Paris, France.
Thibault
T
Vallet
Ecole de Biologie Industrielle (EBI) - 13, Cergy, France.
Anne-Marie
AM
Pensé-Lhéritier
Laboratoire Conception de Produits et Innovation (LCPI) - Arts et Métiers ParisTech - 151, Boulevard de l'Hôpital, Paris, France.
Ameziane
A
Aoussat
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000592:standards*; D004304:Dosage Forms; D004333:Drug Administration Routes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000592:standards*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D011897:Random Allocation
D004304:Dosage Forms; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations
acceptability; child; drug formulations; evaluation