Medication adherence interventions: where are we and where do we go?

Decades ago, WHO identified low adher-ence (defined as the extent to which aperson’s behaviour regarding medicationcorresponds with agreed recommenda-tions from a healthcare provider) to medi-cations for chronic illnesses as a significantsocietal challenge, emphasising that fewerthan 50% of people adhere to their medi-cation regimens.1 In one of the largeststudies on the subject, the authorsconcluded that the long-term survivalbenefits associated with improved drugadherence appear to be class specific,suggesting that adherence improvementsare influenced by patients' overallbehaviour ‘healthy adherer’ and drugeffects. 2 In another study, the authorsfound that improving antidiabetic medica-tion adherence could reduce the risk ofcardiovascular disease and long-term all-cause mortality.3 These findings align withWHO’s assertion that ‘the increased effec-tiveness of adherence interventions mayhave a far greater impact on the health ofthe population than any other specificmedical treatment’.