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Abstract

Compliance is a well recognised but still unresolved health problem; improvement of compliance to treatment would increase cost-effectiveness. One of the current methods used to measure treatment compliance in a clinical drug trial is through the use of a patient diary. In order to interpret data in these diaries it is important to also assess how compliant patients are in completing diaries. Patient compliance of standard diary completion was measured in 69 patients with perennial rhinitis, who were randomised into a double blind, placebo controlled trial with a new corticosteroid drug. During 3 months the patients were instructed to complete a diary twice a day for the following parameters: rhinitis signs and symptoms, dosage times, concomitant medication, use of rescue medication and comments. Diaries were reviewed by the physician at scheduled visits. Twenty patients (30%) completed their diaries for all items perfectly, while 62 patients (94%) completed more than 95% of all items. The compliance of diary completion in a well controlled trial is high. Overall completion of the diary was not influenced by age, gender, race, use of concomitant medication or treatment failure. Significant correlations were found for study duration and physician. This study suggests that completion of a daily diary is positively correlated with patient compliance in medication intake. Physicians could consider using diaries to try to improve compliance. More explicit investigations are needed.

Drug treatment patterns in bipolar disorder: analysis of long-term self-reported data

“…All study patients had access to a psychiatrist and were taking medication. Furthermore, the very process of daily recording may improve medication adherence (van Berge Henegouwen et al 1999 ). In clinical practice, most patients would not volunteer to keep a long-term daily record.…”

Acceptability to patients, carers and clinicians of an mHealth platform for the management of Parkinson’s disease (PD_Manager): study protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial

“…Unlike other ongoing tests of wearable sensors in Parkinson’s patients which are observational [ 8 ], the PD Manager pilot will use a randomised controlled design. The most common traditional way of gathering information on symptoms from patients is through patient diaries [ 9 ]. This pilot study will therefore use symptom diaries as a comparator to the automated and electronic PD_Manager system for informing patient care and treatment plans.…”

The effect of a reminder diary on risk factors in patients with chronic hypertension attending a clinic at a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa

“…The reminder diary was drawn up in consultation with the staff of the hypertension clinic and a perusal of the literature. 16 , 17 The diary consisted of. simple basic information on hypertension with a new fact presented for reading on each consecutive day; suggestions for specific progressive exercises to do each day which were explained during the monthly telephone calls; 23 reminders on what to eat and what not to eat (informed by the dietician in the clinic according to the Gauteng Department of Health healthy eating plan 24 ); and a question on whether medication had been taken for that day.…”

“…Reminder diaries may be an intervention that improves adherence to lifestyle modification, 16 , 17 as they are visible reminders that can be reviewed by health care professionals during clinic visits and may motivate patients. Arrigo et al showed that, in patients one year post-cardiac rehabilitation, using a diary and three-monthly group education sessions almost doubled patients’ adherence to exercise compared with patients who did not receive the diary or group sessions.…”