The association between self-reported varenicline adherence and varenicline blood levels in a sample of cancer patients receiving treatment for tobacco dependence.
Addict Behav Rep
; 8: 46-50, 2018 Dec.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29998189
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
The degree to which smokers quit successfully with varenicline is strongly associated with their adherence to the medication regimen. Thus, measuring varenicline adherence to identify smokers needing additional intervention is a priority. Few studies, however, have examined the validity of self-reported varenicline adherence, using a biological assessment of adherence as a reference. No study has examined this issue among cancer patients trying to quit smoking, who may show unique patterns of adherence given their medical comorbidity.METHODS:
This study used data from 76 cancer patients who received varenicline and provided self-reported varenicline adherence data (pill count) and a blood sample to determine varenicline metabolites 4â¯weeks after initiating varenicline.RESULTS:
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses of plasma varenicline levels showed that 4â¯ng/ml was the optimal cut-point for differentiating adherence with significant (p'sâ¯<â¯0.04) area under the curve values, ranging from 0.73-0.80 for 3-day, 7-day, and 4-week self-reported pill count; specificity values ranged from 0.63-0.78 and sensitivity values ranged from 0.82-0.94. Using this cut-point, adherence was high (88%). However, plasma varenicline levels were weakly correlated with 3-day and 4-week pill count and total pill count (12â¯weeks) was not correlated with plasma varenicline levels. Patients with head and neck cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, and more advanced disease showed lower varenicline adherence and lower plasma varenicline.CONCLUSIONS:
Using the 4â¯ng/ml cut-point, this study suggests validity of short-term self-reported varenicline adherence among cancer patients undergoing tobacco dependence treatment in contrast to studies in the general population, which supported 12-week pill count.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Language:
En
Journal:
Addict Behav Rep
Year:
2018
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States