GATEKEEPER's Strategy for the Multinational Large-Scale Piloting of an eHealth Platform: Tutorial on How to Identify Relevant Settings and Use Cases.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization's strategy toward healthy aging fosters person-centered integrated care sustained by eHealth systems. However, there is a need for standardized frameworks or platforms accommodating and interconnecting multiple of these systems while ensuring secure, relevant, fair, trust-based data sharing and use. The H2020 project GATEKEEPER aims to implement and test an open-source, European, standard-based, interoperable, and secure framework serving broad populations of aging citizens with heterogeneous health needs. OBJECTIVE: We aim to describe the rationale for the selection of an optimal group of settings for the multinational large-scale piloting of the GATEKEEPER platform. METHODS: The selection of implementation sites and reference use cases (RUCs) was based on the adoption of a double stratification pyramid reflecting the overall health of target populations and the intensity of proposed interventions; the identification of a principles guiding implementation site selection; and the elaboration of guidelines for RUC selection, ensuring clinical relevance and scientific excellence while covering the whole spectrum of citizen complexities and intervention intensities. RESULTS: Seven European countries were selected, covering Europe's geographical and socioeconomic heterogeneity: Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. These were complemented by the following 3 Asian pilots: Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. Implementation sites consisted of local ecosystems, including health care organizations and partners from industry, civil society, academia, and government, prioritizing the highly rated European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Aging reference sites. RUCs covered the whole spectrum of chronic diseases, citizen complexities, and intervention intensities while privileging clinical relevance and scientific rigor. These included lifestyle-related early detection and interventions, using artificial intelligence-based digital coaches to promote healthy lifestyle and delay the onset or worsening of chronic diseases in healthy citizens; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure decompensations management, proposing integrated care management based on advanced wearable monitoring and machine learning (ML) to predict decompensations; management of glycemic status in diabetes mellitus, based on beat to beat monitoring and short-term ML-based prediction of glycemic dynamics; treatment decision support systems for Parkinson disease, continuously monitoring motor and nonmotor complications to trigger enhanced treatment strategies; primary and secondary stroke prevention, using a coaching app and educational simulations with virtual and augmented reality; management of multimorbid older patients or patients with cancer, exploring novel chronic care models based on digital coaching, and advanced monitoring and ML; high blood pressure management, with ML-based predictions based on different intensities of monitoring through self-managed apps; and COVID-19 management, with integrated management tools limiting physical contact among actors. CONCLUSIONS: This paper provides a methodology for selecting adequate settings for the large-scale piloting of eHealth frameworks and exemplifies with the decisions taken in GATEKEEPER the current views of the WHO and European Commission while moving forward toward a European Data Space.

Differentiation of COVID-19 signs and symptoms from allergic rhinitis and common cold: An ARIA-EAACI-GA2 LEN consensus.

BACKGROUND: Although there are many asymptomatic patients, one of the problems of COVID-19 is early recognition of the disease. COVID-19 symptoms are polymorphic and may include upper respiratory symptoms. However, COVID-19 symptoms may be mistaken with the common cold or allergic rhinitis. An ARIA-EAACI study group attempted to differentiate upper respiratory symptoms between the three diseases. METHODS: A modified Delphi process was used. The ARIA members who were seeing COVID-19 patients were asked to fill in a questionnaire on the upper airway symptoms of COVID-19, common cold and allergic rhinitis. RESULTS: Among the 192 ARIA members who were invited to respond to the questionnaire, 89 responded and 87 questionnaires were analysed. The consensus was then reported. A two-way ANOVA revealed significant differences in the symptom intensity between the three diseases (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: This modified Delphi approach enabled the differentiation of upper respiratory symptoms between COVID-19, the common cold and allergic rhinitis. An electronic algorithm will be devised using the questionnaire.

Adherence to treatment in paediatric patients - results of the nationwide survey in Poland.

BACKGROUND: Due to high prevalence, non-adherence to prescribed treatment seriously undermines the effectiveness of evidence-based therapies in paediatric patients. In order to change this negative scenario, physicians need to be aware of adherence problem, as well as of possible solutions. Unfortunately, full potential of adherence-targeting interventions is still underused in Poland. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours toward non-adherence in Polish paediatricians. METHODS: An anonymous cross-sectional nationwide survey was conducted in the convenience sample of Polish doctors providing care to paediatric patients. The survey focused on the prevalence of non-adherence, its causes, and interventions employed. Primary studied parameter was perceived prevalence of non-adherence in paediatric patients. Reporting of this study adheres to STROBE guidelines. RESULTS: One thousand and thirty-three responses were eligible for analysis. Vast majority of respondents were female (85.9%), most of them worked in primary care (90.6%). The respondents represented all 16 Polish Voivodeships, with the biggest number coming from the Mazowieckie Voivodeship (n = 144, 13.9%). Survey participants believed that on average 28.9% of paediatric patients were non-adherent to medication. More than half of the respondents (n = 548, 53.0%) were convinced that their own patients were more adherent than average. Duration of the professional practice strongly correlated with a lower perceived prevalence of non-adherence. Professionals with more than 40 years of practice believed that the percentage of non-adherent patients was <=20% particularly often (OR = 3.82 (95% CI 2.11-6.93) versus those up to 10 years in practice). Out of all respondents, they were also most often convinced that their own patients were more adherent than the general population (P < 0.01). Consequently, they underestimated the need for training in this area. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians taking care of Polish paediatric patients underestimated the prevalence of medication non-adherence and believed that this was a problem of other doctors. This optimistic bias was particularly pronounced in older doctors. These results identify important barriers toward improving patient adherence that are worth addressing in the pre- and post-graduate education of Polish physicians. They also put some light over the challenges that educational activities in this area may face.

Lesson learned from an international training program on patients medication adherence for healthcare professionals.

SUMMARY: Objective. Healthcare professionals play a crucial role for promoting medication adherence in older adults. This research aimed to assess changes in professionals' opinions about medication adherence after attending a course, collecting suggestions for future educational programs. Method. A one-week course on medication adherence in older adults was held involving 32 healthcare professionals and students from Italy, Portugal and Poland as part of the Erasmus+ Skills4Adherence Project. Prior to and at the end of the course, participants provided three keyword answers through a Google Form. Responses were collectively discussed and commented on. Results. At the end of the course a general tendency to put more attention on patient's beliefs and engagement was revealed. The caregivers' role was also underlined. As to suggestions for education, three keywords were considered not enough to characterize adherence issues. Conversely, professionals considered collective discussions and roleplaying to be effective for increasing awareness on this theme. Discussion and conclusion. Several changes in healthcare professionals' opinions regarding determinants of medicationadherence were revealed after this dedicated course. Overall, multidisciplinary and practical training programs should be proposed for increasing healthcare professionals' awareness of factors impacting on medication adherence in older adults.

A Narrative Review of Current Challenges in the Diagnosis and Management of Bacterial Vaginosis.

Despite the availability of a number of oral and intravaginal antibiotic medications for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV), management of this condition remains challenging. Recurrent BV occurs in >50% of patients receiving guideline-recommended treatments. This may be due to persistence or resurgence of the BV biofilm after treatment cessation, failure to reestablish an optimal vaginal microbiome after treatment, reinfection from an untreated sexual partner, or a combination of these factors. Nonadherence to multidose BV therapies may potentially contribute to recurrent BV, although there are no published data that directly assess the role of nonadherence to poor treatment outcomes and recurrent BV. There is a need for studies of BV treatment adherence in real-world settings as well as studies to explore the relationship between treatment adherence and recurrence. This review explores challenges associated with diagnosing and treating BV, current multidose antibiotic treatment options, newer single-dose treatment options, and ways to potentially maximize treatment success for this common vaginal infection.

The Need to Develop Standard Measures of Patient Adherence for Big Data: Viewpoint.

Despite half a century of dedicated studies, medication adherence remains far from perfect, with many patients not taking their medications as prescribed. The magnitude of this problem is rising, jeopardizing the effectiveness of evidence-based therapies. An important reason for this is the unprecedented demographic change at the beginning of the 21st century. Aging leads to multimorbidity and complex therapeutic regimens that create a fertile ground for nonadherence. As this scenario is a global problem, it needs a worldwide answer. Could this answer be provided, given the new opportunities created by the digitization of health care? Daily, health-related information is being collected in electronic health records, pharmacy dispensing databases, health insurance systems, and national health system records. These big data repositories offer a unique chance to study adherence both retrospectively and prospectively at the population level, as well as its related factors. In order to make full use of this opportunity, there is a need to develop standardized measures of adherence, which can be applied globally to big data and will inform scientific research, clinical practice, and public health. These standardized measures may also enable a better understanding of the relationship between adherence and clinical outcomes, and allow for fair benchmarking of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of adherence-targeting interventions. Unfortunately, despite this obvious need, such standards are still lacking. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to call for a consensus on global standards for measuring adherence with big data. More specifically, sound standards of formatting and analyzing big data are needed in order to assess, uniformly present, and compare patterns of medication adherence across studies. Wide use of these standards may improve adherence and make health care systems more effective and sustainable.

Type 2 Diabetes Patients Benefit from the COMODITY12 mHealth System: Results of a Randomised Trial.

Patient acceptance is one of the major barriers toward widespread use of mHealth systems. The aim of this study was to assess system operability and whole trial feasibility, including patients' experience with their use of COMMODITY12 mHealth system under. Secondary study aims included assessment of several metabolic parameters as well as patient adherence to the treatment. This was a prospective parallel-arm randomized controlled trial in outpatients diagnosed with DM2, being treated in the primary care settings in Lodz region, Poland, with 6 weeks period of follow-up. Patients opinions were collected with 7-item questionnaire, assessing different aspects of system use, as well as EuroQol-5D-5 L questionnaire, assessing health-related quality of life. Sixty patients (female, 24, male, 36, mean age +/- SD 59.5 +/- 6.8) completed study. All four layers of the COMMODITY12 system proved to work smooth under real-life conditions, without major problems. All dimensions of experience with system use were assessed well, with maximum values for clearness of instructions, and ease of use (4.80, and 4.63, respectively). Health related quality of life, as assessed with cumulative utility measure, improved significantly in COMMODITY12 system users (P < 0.05). mHealth system modestly improved glycaemic and blood pressure control, assuring high level of patient adherence with overall adherence reaching 92.9 %. Study proved that the COMODITY12 system is well accepted by type 2 diabetes patients taking part in clinical trial, leading to several clinical benefits, and improved quality of life. Nevertheless, before future commercialisation of the system, several minor problems identified during the study need to be addressed.

Processing Diabetes Mellitus Composite Events in MAGPIE.

The focus of this research is in the definition of programmable expert Personal Health Systems (PHS) to monitor patients affected by chronic diseases using agent oriented programming and mobile computing to represent the interactions happening amongst the components of the system. The paper also discusses issues of knowledge representation within the medical domain when dealing with temporal patterns concerning the physiological values of the patient. In the presented agent based PHS the doctors can personalize for each patient monitoring rules that can be defined in a graphical way. Furthermore, to achieve better scalability, the computations for monitoring the patients are distributed among their devices rather than being performed in a centralized server. The system is evaluated using data of 21 diabetic patients to detect temporal patterns according to a set of monitoring rules defined. The system's scalability is evaluated by comparing it with a centralized approach. The evaluation concerning the detection of temporal patterns highlights the system's ability to monitor chronic patients affected by diabetes. Regarding the scalability, the results show the fact that an approach exploiting the use of mobile computing is more scalable than a centralized approach. Therefore, more likely to satisfy the needs of next generation PHSs. PHSs are becoming an adopted technology to deal with the surge of patients affected by chronic illnesses. This paper discusses architectural choices to make an agent based PHS more scalable by using a distributed mobile computing approach. It also discusses how to model the medical knowledge in the PHS in such a way that it is modifiable at run time. The evaluation highlights the necessity of distributing the reasoning to the mobile part of the system and that modifiable rules are able to deal with the change in lifestyle of the patients affected by chronic illnesses.

Predictors of self-reported adherence to antihypertensive medicines: a multinational, cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: Nonadherence to antihypertensive medicines limits their effectiveness, increases the risk of adverse health outcome, and is associated with significant health care costs. The multiple causes of nonadherence differ both within and between patients and are influenced by patients' care settings. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this article was to identify determinants of patient nonadherence to antihypertensive medicines, drawing from psychosocial and economic models of behavior. METHODS: Outpatients with hypertension from Austria, Belgium, England, Germany, Greece, Hungary, The Netherlands, Poland, and Wales were recruited to a cross-sectional online survey. Nonadherence to medicines was assessed using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (primary outcome) and the Medication Adherence Rating Scale. Associations with adherence and nonadherence were tested for demographic, clinical, and psychosocial factors. RESULTS: A total of 2595 patients completed the questionnaire. The percentage of patients classed as nonadherent ranged from 24% in The Netherlands to 70% in Hungary. Low age, low self-efficacy, and respondents' perceptions of their illness and cost-related barriers were associated with nonadherence measured on the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale across several countries. In multilevel, multivariate analysis, low self-efficacy (odds ratio = 0.73; 95% confidence interval 0.70-0.77) and a high number of perceived barriers to taking medicines (odds ratio = 1.70; 95% confidence interval 1.38-2.09) were the main significant determinants of nonadherence. Country differences explained 11% of the variance in nonadherence. CONCLUSIONS: Among the variables measured, patients' adherence to antihypertensive medicines is influenced primarily by their self-efficacy, illness beliefs, and perceived barriers. These should be targets for interventions for improving adherence, as should an appreciation of differences among the countries in which they are being delivered.

Adherence to treatment in asthma and COPD patients in their doctors' assessment.

INTRODUCTION: Adherence to therapy is one of the basic preconditions of successful treatment of asthma and COPD. Unfortunately, many patients take their medication incorrectly. The aim of this study was to assess doctors' knowledge of this phenomenon, including interventions able to improve patient adherence. MATERIAL AND METHODS: It was a questionnaire-based survey conducted among convenience sample of Polish physicians treating asthma and COPD. RESULTS: One hundred and sixty one physicians, mainly specialists in allergology (44.1%) and pulmonology (37.3%) took part in the study. According to participants, asthma patients took on average 65.4 ± 17.1% of doses of prescribed drugs, whereas COPD patients - 61.6 ± 24.2%. Over half of respondents claimed that during the first year of treatment, no more than 20% of asthma and COPD patients discontinue their therapy. Survey participants pointed at patients discourage (41.6%) and lack of knowledge about disease (19.3%) as the main reasons for discontinuation of therapy. Almost 2/3 of participants (65.8%) claimed that they could recognize non-adherence in their patients. Prescribing combination inhaled drugs (72.7%), drugs with infrequent dosing (63.4%), and affordable ones (53.4%) were the most common interventions aimed at improving adherence provided by respondents. CONCLUSIONS: Survey participants were aware of the phenomenon of non-adherence in patients with asthma and COPD, but underestimated the real prevalence and seriousness of it. They also overestimated their ability to recognise non-adherence in their patients. Therefore, not necessarily they may obtain better adherence in their asthma and COPD patients. These results point at the issues which should be addressed in pre- and postgraduate education of physicians treating chronic airways conditions.

From non-adherence to adherence: Can innovative solutions resolve a longstanding problem?

Non-adherence to medication is a longstanding problem, profoundly affecting patient outcomes and sustainability of healthcare systems. Historically, non-adherence has been observed since the time of Hippocrates, however, when potent drugs became available in the midst of the 20th century, it became a pivotal concern. Despite numerous studies and interventions designed, medication adherence rates remain suboptimal, currently reaching about 50 % still, as described in WHO report two decades ago. What is worse, many healthcare professionals feel neither responsible nor able to change it. Enhancing adherence requires in-depth understanding of the concept, as many intuitive approaches fail to work. For example, contrary to expectations, patient education alone proves insufficient when addressing this issue. Both behavioural models and recent experience reflecting low acceptance of COVID-19 vaccinations strongly suggest that patients' decisions are driven by emotions, which often results in intentional non-adherence. Several technical innovations, such as smart inhalers and electronic pill dispensers, offer potential solutions. However, their effectiveness varies, and standardized certification procedures are lacking. Altogether, technical solutions do not eliminate the problem entirely. To move forward, social and health system innovation is equally needed. Multiple stakeholders could benefit from improved adherence, therefore their greater involvement is advisable to create an adherence-supporting environment. In conclusion, despite available evidence-based interventions, non-adherence remains a complex challenge. Technical and social innovations, combined with a shift in policy priorities, could lead to improved medication adherence and better patient outcomes. The global tide of non-communicable chronic conditions, and aging of societies urges us to take this problem seriously.

Adherence to the antirheumatic drugs: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to analyze the adherence rate for conventional and biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) utilizing different assessment measures. Method: A systematic literature search was performed in four electronic databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), covering the time frame from April 1970 to April 2023. Studies that present data on medication adherence among adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), specifically focusing on DMARDs (conventional or biological), were included in the analysis. The adherence rate for different assessment measures was documented and compared, as well as for conventional and biological DMARDs. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed to assess adherence rates across different adherence assessment measures and drug groups. Results: The search identified 8,480 studies, out of which 66 were finally included in the analysis. The studies included in this meta-analysis had adherence rates ranging from 12 to 98.6%. Adherence rates varied across several adherent measures and calculation methods. Using the subjective assessment measures yielded the outcomes in terms of adherence rate: 64.0% [0.524, 95% CI 0.374-0.675] for interviews and 60.0% [0.611, 95% CI 0.465-0.758] for self-reported measures (e.g., compliance questionnaires on rheumatology CQR-5), p > 0.05. In contrast, the objective measurements indicated a lower adherence rate of 54.4% when using the medication event monitoring system (p > 0.05). The recorded rate of adherence to biological DMARDs was 45.3% [0.573, 95% CI 0.516-0.631], whereas the adherence rate for conventional DMARDs was 51.5% [0.632, 95% CI 0.537-0.727], p > 0.05. In the meta-regression analysis, the covariate "Country of origin" shows a statistically significant (p = 0.003) negative effect with a point estimate of -0.36, SE (0.12), 95% CI, -0.61 to -0.12. Discussion: Despite its seemingly insignificant factors that affect the adherence rate, this meta-analysis reveals variation in adherence rate within the types of studies conducted, the methodology used to measure adherence, and for different antirheumatic drugs. Further research is needed to validate the findings of this meta-analysis before applying them to clinical practice and scientific research. In order to secure high reliability of adherence studies, compliance with available reporting guidelines for medication adherence research is more than advisable.

Statins use amidst the pandemic: prescribing, dispensing, adherence, persistence, and correlation with COVID-19 statistics in nationwide real-world data from Poland.

Background: Adherence to medications presents a significant challenge in healthcare. Statins, used in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, are of particular importance for public health. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in additional healthcare system-related barriers impeding the execution of therapies. This study aimed to assess the use of as well as adherence and persistence to statins in a national cohort of 38 million of Polish citizens during pandemic. Methods: A retrospective analysis of prescription and dispensation data for all statins users from the national payer organization covering the years 2020-2022 was conducted. Medication adherence was assessed using the Medication Possession Ratio, for persistence the 30-day cut-off was accepted. National data on COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 related deaths were obtained from ECDC. Results: The analysis identified 7,189,716 Polish citizens (approximately 19% of Polish population) who were dispensed at least 1 pack of statins within the study period. Over that time, there was a continuous significant increasing trend in prescribing and dispensing of statins. Despite a total increase of 18.9% in the number of prescribed tablets, the percentage of tablets dispensed remained similar, averaging 86%. Overall percentage of adherent patients was 48.2%. For a random sample of 100,000 patients, the mean period of continuous therapy in 2022 was 6.2+/- 5.3 months. During the lockdown period, the mean number of prescribed and dispensed tablets was lower by 6.8% and 5.9%, respectively (p < 0.05). However, fluctuations in the number of COVID-19 cases or COVID-19-related deaths per week had no major impact on the prescribing and dispensing of statins. Conclusion: Over the time of pandemic, there was a continuous increase in the number of statin tablets prescribed and dispensed in Poland. This suggests that, despite the potential limitations posed by COVID-19, access to statins remained easy, which may be attributed to the mass-scale implementation of the national e-prescription system. However, it is crucial to realise that approximately 1/7 of prescribed statin doses were never dispensed, and the overall levels of adherence and persistence were low. This underscores the necessity for concerted efforts to change this scenario in Poland.

Identifying and presenting key country-specific indicators related to medication adherence: a comprehensive study across European countries.

This study tackles the critical challenge of medication non-adherence in healthcare by pinpointing indicators related to medication adherence (IRMAs) across 39 European countries and Israel. Utilizing a structured expert survey methodology within the European Network to Advance Best Practices and Technology on Medication Adherence (ENABLE; COST Action CA19132), our research identified key country-specific IRMAs and collected data on these indicators to understand the multifaceted nature of medication adherence. The research was conducted in two phases: firstly, defining key IRMAs through a two-round expert survey, and secondly, gathering country-specific data on these IRMAs through literature reviews and additional expert surveys. The study revealed a diverse range of 26 top-ranked IRMAs, including six related to country characteristics, four to social/economic factors, three each to therapy-related and patient-related factors, one to condition-related factors, and nine to healthcare system-related factors. The availability of country-specific data on these IRMAs varied among the countries, highlighting the need for more comprehensive data collection and research. The findings from this study not only underscore the complexity of predicting medication adherence but also lay the groundwork for developing targeted, country-specific interventions to improve adherence. Moreover, this research offers valuable insights for policymakers, highlighting the importance of understanding the multifaceted nature of medication adherence and offering a valuable resource in formulating targeted health policies to enhance health outcomes and reduce the economic burden associated with medication non-adherence.

Engagement of medication users in the development and implementation of digital medication adherence technologies: a multi-stakeholder study.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to create a comprehensive framework for the development and implementation of digital medication adherence technologies (DMATech), focusing on critical stages where engagement of medication users (MU) is considered meaningful, i.e. adds significant value, as agreed upon by participating stakeholders. METHODS: Through a literature review and expert consensus, a framework was outlined covering key DMATech development and implementation phases and steps. An in-person workshop with MU representatives and adherence experts, using the Nominal Group Technique, further refined these stages for MU engagement. RESULTS: The DMATech framework included three phases: 'Innovation,' 'Research and Development,' and 'Launch and Implementation,' each encompassing multiple steps. The workshop, attended by five MU representatives and nine adherence experts, identified critical stages for MU input including context analysis, ideation, proof of concept, prototype creation, DMATech's iteration, critical evaluation, healthcare implementation, real-world assessment, and improvement. Nevertheless, there was a divergence of consensus regarding the importance of MUs engagement in regulatory, financial, and marketing aspects. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a holistic framework for DMATech development and implementation and underscores the necessity of MU engagement at various stages. Modes of MU engagement cannot be generalized; a case-by-case evaluation of engagement strategies is essential.

[Prevalence, reasons, and forms of use of legal highs by internet-based survey participants]. / Ocena rozpowszechnienia, powodów i form uiycia tak zwanych "dopalaczy" przez uczestników ankiety internetowej.

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence, causes and forms of the use of legal highs in Poland. METHODS: The study was based on an original questionnaire and was carried out through the Internet before banning of the legal highs in Poland. RESULTS: The study covered 3013 people, aged 24.7 +/- 6.9, of which 9.3% admitted to use legal highs (6.5% ofwomen, and 14.7% ofmen, P < 0.01). The highest percentage of legal highs users was in the age groups 19-25 years (10.6%). Most people taking legal highs did so less than 1 time per month (71.8%). The most common reasons for taking legal highs were curiosity (46.4%), the desire to have fun (26.8%), and to improve the well-being (10.7%). Legal highs were most often used during meetings with friends (68.9% of cases), and social events (52.1%). The majority of their users adopted other risky behaviors: 56.4% took them with alcohol, 86.4% tried narcotics at least once, and 13.9% decided to try narcotics after trying legal highs. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Among the respondents of the online survey 9.3% admitted to use legal highs. 2. A typical profile of a legal high user is a young man, using them out of curiosity, to improve the well-being or just for fun, usually in social situations. 3. Initiatives undertaken to reduce the use of legal highs have to consider the social context.

Optimizing polypharmacy management in the elderly: a comprehensive European benchmarking survey and the development of an innovative online benchmarking application.

Background: Polypharmacy, defined as the simultaneous use of multiple medications by a patient, is a worldwide problem of rising prevalence. Paving the way for drug interactions, adverse drug reactions and non-adherence, it leads to negative health outcomes, increased use of healthcare services and rising costs. Since it is closely related to multimorbidity, it peaks in older adults. So far, not many polypharmacy management programs in the elderly have been introduced in practice. However, due to the rapid ageing of European societies, there is an urgent need to implement them more widely. Objective: The aim of this study was to benchmark polypharmacy management programs in the elderly available in Europe and creating a dedicated benchmarking application. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study based on an online survey targeting healthcare professionals and other stakeholders across European countries. Data collected in the survey were reused to design an online benchmarking application. Results: As many as 911 respondents from all but two EU countries took part in this study. Out of the survey participants, 496 (54.4%) reported availability of various activities or formal programs targeting polypharmacy in the elderly that were known to them. These programs had multiple goals, of which improved patient safety was indicated as the most common objective (65.1% of the cases). The most typical settings for such programs was primary care (49.4%), with pharmacists and primary care doctors being indicated most often as those providing the programs (61.7% and 35.5% of cases, respectively). Vast majority of programs applied diverse forms of drug reviews. The identified programs were assessed against four predefined dimensions of effectiveness, applicability, scalability and cost-effectiveness. The lowest scores were obtained within the last of these categories, due to unavailability of relevant data. Based on the survey results, a benchmarking application was constructed. It allows for comparing an individual polypharmacy management program targeting the elderly against the other ones, and particularly, against the national and European context. Conclusion: By providing strong evidence, the findings of this study, coupled with the benchmarking application, can prove valuable in aiding clinicians and policymakers in the implementation and expansion of polypharmacy management programs for the elderly.

The prevalence of symptoms and its correlation with sex in polish COVID-19 adult patients: Cross-sectional online open survey.

Background: The understanding and treatment of COVID-19 has improved rapidly since December 2019 when SARS-CoV-2 was sequenced. However most papers on its symptomatology focus on hospitalized patients and address only a limited number of major presentations. Although differences depending on sex of COVID-19 patients have been previously confirmed (higher ICU admission and higher death rate for men), no publication has focused on sex-related differences in COVID-19 symptomatology. Objective: The aim of the study was to present a reliable list of COVID-19 symptoms and identify any differences in symptom prevalence depending on sex. Methods: A sample of Polish patients suffering from COVID-19 were surveyed using a cross-sectional anonymous online survey in Polish available on a web-based surveying platform (Survey Monkey). The survey included 20 questions asking about COVID-19 symptoms, days of occurrence (from day 1 until day 14 and "15 days or more") and patient characteristics including sex, age, height, weight, place of residence and type of therapy received during COVID-19. The survey was made available during the third COVID-19 wave in Poland. The link to the survey was distributed across social networks. Participation was open to anyone willing, without any incentives. The data was analyzed statistically. Results: Survey responses were collected from 2,408 participants (56.9% women) aged 18-90 (42 ± 12), 84.7% living in cities, who took part in the study between December 2020 and February 2021. Out of 54 predefined symptoms, the three most prevalent were fatigue (reported by 87.61% respondents), anosmia (73.74%) and headache (69.89%). Women were found to be more symptomatic than men, 31 symptoms occurred more often in women (including anosmia, headache and myalgias, p < 0.05). Subfebrility, fever and hemoptysis were more prevalent in men. Twelve symptoms (incl. hypothermia, sneezing and nausea) lasted longer in women than men (p < 0.05). Fatigue, cough, nasal dryness, xerostomia and polydipsia were the longest lasting symptoms of COVID-19 (lasted over 14 days). Conclusion: Our study presents a wide range of symptoms, which may enable better recognition of COVID-19, especially in an outpatient setting. Understanding these differences in the symptomatology of community and hospitalized patients may help diagnose and treat patients faster and more accurately. Our findings also confirmed differences in symptomatology of COVID-19 between men and women, which may lay the foundation for a better understanding of the different courses of this disease in the sexes. Further studies are necessary to understand whether a different presentation correlates with a different outcome.

Half a Century of Fragmented Research on Deviations from Advised Therapies: Is This a Good Time to Call for Multidisciplinary Medication Adherence Research Centres of Excellence?

Medication adherence is a key precondition of the effectiveness of evidence-based therapies. However, in real-life settings, non-adherence to medication is still very common. This leads to profound health and economic consequences at both individual and public health levels. The problem of non-adherence has been extensively studied in the last 50 years. Unfortunately, with more than 130,000 scientific papers published on that subject so far, we are still far from finding an ultimate solution. This is, at least partly, due to fragmented and poor-quality research that has been conducted in this field sometimes. To overcome this deadlock, there is a need to stimulate the adoption of best practices in medication adherence-related research in a systematic way. Therefore, herein we propose the establishment of dedicated medication adherence research Centres of Excellence (CoEs). These Centres could not only conduct research but could also create a profound societal impact, directly serving the needs of patients, healthcare providers, systems and economies. Additionally, they could play a role as local advocates for good practices and education. In this paper, we propose some practical steps that might be taken in order to establish such CoEs. We describe two success stories, i.e., Dutch and Polish Medication Adherence Research CoEs. The COST Action "European Network to Advance Best practices & technoLogy on medication adherencE" (ENABLE) aims to develop a detailed definition of the Medication Adherence Research CoE in the form of a list of minimal requirements regarding their objectives, structure and activities. We hope that it will help to create a critical mass and catalyse the setup of regional and national Medication Adherence Research CoEs in the near future. This, in turn, may not only increase the quality of the research but also raise the awareness of non-adherence and promote the adoption of the best medication adherence-enhancing interventions.

New terminology of medication adherence enabling and supporting activities: ENABLE terminology.

Introduction: Medication non-adherence negatively affects the effectiveness of evidence-based therapies and sustainability of healthcare systems. Lack of agreed terminology of medication adherence enabling and supporting activities leads to underuse of the available tools. The ENABLE COST Action was aimed at proposing a new terminology for these activities in order to help both scientific research and its clinical application. Methods: Initial discussions within the ENABLE Working Groups allowed for the conceptualization of four interlinked terms related to adherence, i.e., "medication adherence technology", "medication adherence enhancing intervention", "best practice" and "reimbursement". The iterative process of internal discussion was structured around two dedicated international workshops. Moreover, extensive stakeholder consultations have been organised, including an interactive online survey used to assess the level of agreement with, and the clarity of relevant terms and definitions proposed. Results: Detailed analysis of the results of this process allowed for fine-tuning of the items, and finally, for proposing the final set of definitions. Across all the three phases of this process, the definitions were substantially modified to better reflect the concepts, simplify the language, and assure completeness and cohesiveness of terminology. Feedback obtained from the stakeholders helped this process and confirmed that the final terms and definitions were well received by the experts active in the field of medication adherence. Discussion: Covering the gap in the existing terminology, this work proposes a cohesive set of terms and definitions applicable to medication adherence enabling and supporting activities. Promoting evidence-based approach to this field, this terminology may help research, clinical practice and policy.