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Compliance Monitoring Appears To Improve Treatment Outcomes

“Medication compliance” is defined as the extent to which a patient takes his/her medication according to a healthcare provider’s instructions. Pharmacotherapy trials of alcoholism have shown that compliance is equal to, or more important than, other areas of medicine. This study uses two different compliance methods to evaluate naltrexone’s efficacy in treating alcoholism as well as the impact of compliance on its effects. (Naltrexone is a drug used in the treatment of opioid or alcohol dependence. It is used after the patient has stopped taking drugs or alcohol and works by blocking the effects of narcotics or by decreasing the craving for alcohol. Naltrexone has been shown to be of value in preventing relapse.)

Of 160 alcohol-dependent patients (121 males, 39 females), 137 completed 12 weeks (84 days) of naltrexone or placebo and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or motivational enhancement therapy (MET). Researchers simultaneously used urine riboflavin and the medication event monitoring system (MEMS) to measure compliance. [MEMS uses a medication bottle cap fitted with a microprocessor to capture the timing (date and time) of each medication-taking.]

Results indicate that using either method of compliance yields a greater treatment effect than not using a compliance measurement. The authors recommend that greater attention be given to ways of enhancing compliance during alcoholism treatment. (Ed. Note: Another name for “compliance” is “adherence.”)

(Baros, AM, Latham, PK, Moak, DH, Voronin, K, Anton, RF: What role does measuring medication compliance play in evaluating the efficacy of naltrexone? Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research 31:596-603, 2007.)

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