Objective versus subjective assessment of oral medication adherence in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

The results indicate that objectively measured medication nonadherence prevalence is consistent with that observed in other pediatric chronic illness populations, and that objective nonadherence frequency is considerable, with 40%-50% of doses missed by patients. Subjective assessments appeared to overestimate adherence. Bioassay adherence data, while compromised by pharmacokinetic variation, might be useful as a cursory screener for nonadherence with follow-up objective assessment. Nonadherence in 1 medication might also indicate nonadherence in other medications. Clinical implications and future research directions are provided.