Interventional tools to improve medication adherence: review of literature

Elísio Costa,1 Anna Giardini,2 Magda Savin,3 Enrica Menditto,4 Elaine Lehane,5 Olga Laosa,6 Sergio Pecorelli,7,8 Alessandro Monaco,7 Alessandra Marengoni9On behalf of the A1 Action group “Prescription and Adherence to Medical Plans”, European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing1UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; 2Psychology Unit, Salvatore Maugeri Foundation, IRCCS, Scientific Institute of Montescano (PV), Pavia, Italy; 3European Association of Pharmaceutical Full-line Wholesalers, Brussels, Belgium; 4CIRFF/Center of Pharmacoeconomics, School of Pharmacy, University of Naples FedericoII, Nápoles, Italy; 5Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery, Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; 6Centro de Investigación Clínica del Anciano Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Madrid, Spain; 7Italian Medicines Agency – AIFA, Rome, Italy; 8University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy; 9Department of Clinical and Experimental Science, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy Abstract: Medication adherence and persistence is recognized as a worldwide public health problem, particularly important in the management of chronic diseases. Nonadherence to medical plans affects every level of the population, but particularly older adults due to the high number of coexisting diseases they are affected by and the consequent polypharmacy. Chronic disease management requires a continuous psychological adaptation and behavioral reorganization. In literature, many interventions to improve medication adherence have been described for different clinical conditions, however, most interventions seem to fail in their aims. Moreover, most interventions associated with adherence improvements are not associated with improvements in other outcomes. Indeed, in the last decades, the degree of nonadherence remained unchanged. In this work, we review the most frequent interventions employed to increase the degree of medication adherence, the measured outcomes, and the improvements achieved, as well as the main limitations of the available studies on adherence, with a particular focus on older persons.Keywords: cognitive impairment, nonadherence, tools, compliance, chronic diseases, elderl