”40 Assessing nonadherence In addition to its definition, the mode of measurement of nonadherence is also challenging, as there is no “gold standard.” ‘Ihe choices of measurement strategics include self-report, pill counts, blood level, or medical microelectronic devices. Subjective measures of adherence, such as selfreport, offer probably the most convenient measure of adherence, although numerous studies in bipolar disorder Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical or in other chronic illnesses have shown that they are subject, to underestimation of actual rates of nonadherence. Caregiver reports may be less subject to underreporting biases, yet a substantial proportion of people with bipolar disorder

do not have caregivers who are aware of the individual’s daily intake of medications. More objective measures include pharmacy records, blood levels, and direct pill Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical counts. The degree of difference in days between successive actual and prescribed refill dates identifies individuals who have taken fewer pills than prescribed; the outcome derived from these analyses include the Cumulative Gap Ratio or the Mean Possession Ratio.41 The disadvantage of pharmacy data is that it must be intuited that refills completed on time equate Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to taking the medication, and time between refills is often over the course of months. Blood levels and pill counts are more direct measures of adherence, but unless they are a part of routine

clinical care, they are impractical in many clinical and research settings. Furthermore, it still is possible to “fake” either of these measures, such as by throwing Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical pills away in the case of pill counts or in taking medication on the day of the blood test. A newer technology, Micro Electronic Monitoring Systems (M.E MS), involves tiny sensors placed in pill bottles that record a time stamp upon opening the bottle. These units

are costly and may be impractical in a clinical setting, particularly among people with multiple medications to track. Generally, the best approach to measuring adherence in both clinical and research settings Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical is the use Cell Stem Cell of multiple measures to converge on an estimate of adherence. By combining information from multiple measures, it is possible to form a composite measure of adherence by averaging, or by using the adherence measure with the lowest estimate of adherence. In patients with HIV, algorithms for deriving an estimate of adherence from multiple sources have been developed.42 There are ancillary measures that help to identify the processes involved in nonadherence. Performance -based measures do not address medication adherence directly, however, they measure medication management ability in a controlled setting. The Medication Management Ability Assessment“43 is an example of this kind of measure; it entails a mock medication regimen that the respondent is told to arrange the medications as they would in their daily life.