Evaluation of Adherence to Immunosuppressive Treatment with Different Methods in Kidney Transplant Recipients

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to compare the medication adherence levels of kidney transplant recipients using different measures.

MATERIAL and METHODS: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out with 147 kidney transplant recipients. The study data were collected between April and November 2017 using the Immunosuppressant Therapy Adherence Scale (ITAS), Immunosuppressive Medication Use Adherence Scale (IMUAS) and biological assay method. For the biological assay, the last five tacrolimus blood plasma levels were assessed and the standard deviation level for each patient was calculated. Patients whose standard deviation level was > 2.48 were considered to have inadequate adherence to medication. Descriptive and Spearman correlation analysis was used.

RESULTS: The patients’ mean age was 45.00 ± 12.60. Of the 147 patients, 73 (49.6%) received treatment including tacrolimus. The biological assay revealed that 88.82% of the patients were in the group that complied with the medication. The mean scores obtained from the ITAS and IMUAS values for all the participating patients (n = 147) were 11.17 ± 1.22 and 48.66 ± 4.71 respectively.

CONCLUSION: In the present study, medication adherence was evaluated using three different measures. The participating patients’ self-report demonstrated that they gave higher scores for medication adherence when the ITAS was used. Several methods as appropriate to the characteristics of patients should be used simultaneously when assessing medication adherence.