Assessment of adherence with oral anticancer agents in oncology clinical trials: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Despite recommendations for adherence reporting in clinical trials involving an oral anticancer agent, the frequency and methods of adherence reporting are inconsistent. The purpose of this systematic review is to determine the frequency and type of adherence measures used in oncology and hematology clinical trials of oral anticancer agents and their association with study characteristics including quality, cancer type, stage and treatment type. DESIGN: PubMed was searched of all randomized controlled clinical trials assessing self-administered pharmacological interventions in patients with cancer and published over two years, between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2012 were evaluated. RESULTS: We identified 70 publications in the PubMed database, comprising 45,118 total patients. Adherence reporting was present in 14 of 70 trials (20%); quantitative reporting was present in three of 70 trials (4%). Method of adherence assessment varied and included medication count, medication diaries and patient self-report. There was no association between adherence reporting and study quality or other study characteristics, although there was a trend towards increased reporting in breast cancer studies, with 46% of the studies reporting adherence (p = 0.0621). In a preliminary analysis, hematology studies (mean Jadad score 2.19 ± 1.47) were found to have significantly lower quality when compared to non-hematology trials (mean Jadad score 3.39 ± 1.37, p = 0.0034). CONCLUSION: This systematic review demonstrates adherence reporting in clinical trials of oral anticancer agents is infrequent. When reported, adherence was not associated with overall study quality or other study characteristics. Given the potential effects of non-adherence on study power and validity, adherence reporting should be encouraged in oncology and hematology clinical trials.

[Strategies for improved healthcare of people with the endemic disease rheumatism exemplified by rheumatoid arthritis]. / Strategien zur verbesserten Versorgung von Menschen mit der Volkskrankheit "Rheuma" am Beispiel der rheumatoiden Arthritis.

New therapeutic principles and considerable diagnostic advances have made it possible to define different rheumatic diseases and especially rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at an early stage and by starting an early and aggressive medication a considerable proportion of patients with RA will reach the status of low disease activity or even remission. With the additional development of composite measures to estimate the disease activity of RA, it was the goal of an international working group consisting of rheumatologists and patients to develop recommendations for treating rheumatoid arthritis in a similar way as for patients with hypertension or diabetes, with the aim to achieve remission as often as possible. This treat-to-target initiative has taken off in quite a number of different countries including Germany leading to discussions on how this initiative can be integrated into the specific national healthcare systems and what possibilities would exist for its implementation. To develop strategies for an improved healthcare of people suffering from rheumatic diseases and using RA as an example, action elements and postulates were developed which will be discussed in more detail in the present manuscript.