Adherence: was the treatment taken as intended?

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  • What does it mean?

Adherence is a way to say whether a treatment was taken as intended, or what we consider in a trial as "treatment completed". 

For example, if patients are allocated to get toothpaste A or B, how often would they need to use it for us to consider they "completed their treatment"? This is usually defined when writing the trial's plan (protocol), but may be defined later in the trial.

You can find more information on adherence here: Adherence - EUPATI Toolbox

  • An example
In the toothpaste trial, our participant Emma has been allocated to toothpaste A. Toothpaste A is stronger than toothpaste B, and tastes horribly. Emma uses toothpaste A for two months, twice a day, but ends up switching to toothpaste B, which is available in the supermarket. Has Emma completed her treatment? 

  • How could patients be involved?
Patients could help us decide what is a reasonable and acceptable definition of adherence to treatment. Patients could also be involved in helping trialists decide on the best way to present information about adherence.


Comments

  1. Unknown11 March 2022 at 07:40

    Patients could also co-produce info on 'What to do if you can't continue'

    ReplyDelete

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