About this Research Topic
It is twenty years since the World Health Organization published their influential report on adherence to long-term therapies. Even though this report has been very highly cited and followed by a huge amount of research, treatment adherence continues to be a massive global problem with serious impacts on clinical, economic and psychosocial outcomes. This was recognized five years ago in another important report from the OECD, which re-emphasized the clinical and economic impacts and identified non-adherence as a major public health issue. There have been many systematic reviews, not only of the prevalence and causes of non-adherence, but also of the many adherence support interventions. However, it is a major challenge for the interested researcher or clinician to keep abreast of all the research which has accrued. Healthcare systems around the world have failed to address the adherence challenge both at a policy and educational level.
The overall goal of this Research Topic is to allow the reader to gain an overview of the state of the art of adherence research. We have identified key areas, which will be overviewed by global experts and international clinicians from diverse therapeutic areas which include:
• adherence challenges in daily clinical practice both from the clinician’s perspective and published evidence;
• an overview of the evidence on the prevalence and multiple causes of non-adherence;
• the clinical and economic impacts of poor treatment adherence;
• solutions and the evidence from studies which have evaluated interventions, which can be delivered by health care professionals or via digital channels.
The OECD report noted the limited awareness of the extent and multiple causes of non-adherence amongst many clinicians and healthcare policy makers. By synthesizing up to date evidence from these key areas, this Topic will provide key insights into the nature, impact and optimal management of treatment adherence challenges. Since non-adherence has also been found to be a significant problem in clinical trials, it also hoped that these papers will be of value to researchers and clinicians working in this crucial area of drug development.
We are particularly looking for overviews and/or reviews (systematic or narrative) of a wide range of topics relevant to medication adherence including the following:
(a) Prevalence & Predictors of non-adherence in (i) specific diseases; (iii) classes of treatment; (iii) particular demographic groups (eg children/adolescents; older adults);
(b) Role of specific factors in adherence (e.g. habits; health literacy; mood; healthcare professionals etc.);
(c) Efficacy of different types of adherence support interventions, behavior change techniques etc.
We acknowledge the funding of some of the manuscripts submitted to this Research Topic by the company Abbott. We hereby state publicly that Abbott has had no editorial input in articles included in this Research Topic, thus ensuring that all aspects of this Research Topic are evaluated objectively, unbiased by any specific policy or opinion of Abbott.
The overall goal of this Research Topic is to allow the reader to gain an overview of the state of the art of adherence research. We have identified key areas, which will be overviewed by global experts and international clinicians from diverse therapeutic areas which include:
• adherence challenges in daily clinical practice both from the clinician’s perspective and published evidence;
• an overview of the evidence on the prevalence and multiple causes of non-adherence;
• the clinical and economic impacts of poor treatment adherence;
• solutions and the evidence from studies which have evaluated interventions, which can be delivered by health care professionals or via digital channels.
The OECD report noted the limited awareness of the extent and multiple causes of non-adherence amongst many clinicians and healthcare policy makers. By synthesizing up to date evidence from these key areas, this Topic will provide key insights into the nature, impact and optimal management of treatment adherence challenges. Since non-adherence has also been found to be a significant problem in clinical trials, it also hoped that these papers will be of value to researchers and clinicians working in this crucial area of drug development.
We are particularly looking for overviews and/or reviews (systematic or narrative) of a wide range of topics relevant to medication adherence including the following:
(a) Prevalence & Predictors of non-adherence in (i) specific diseases; (iii) classes of treatment; (iii) particular demographic groups (eg children/adolescents; older adults);
(b) Role of specific factors in adherence (e.g. habits; health literacy; mood; healthcare professionals etc.);
(c) Efficacy of different types of adherence support interventions, behavior change techniques etc.
We acknowledge the funding of some of the manuscripts submitted to this Research Topic by the company Abbott. We hereby state publicly that Abbott has had no editorial input in articles included in this Research Topic, thus ensuring that all aspects of this Research Topic are evaluated objectively, unbiased by any specific policy or opinion of Abbott.
Keywords: Medication Adherence, clinical impact, economic impact, determinants, prevalence, behavioral interventions, digital interventions
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
