Dried Blood Spot Analysis to Assess Medication Adherence and to Inform Personalization of Treatment

Abstract

Little research using dried blood spot samples to assess adherence to medication has been reported. The World Health Organisation estimates that only half of the patients in the developed world take their medication as prescribed. Additional costs to the healthcare provider include wasted medicines, avoidable additional hospital visits and non-optimum patient care. There is little evidence of information concerning medication adherence being made available to inform clinical decision making. In this article we explore the potential of the dried blood spot sample collection methodology as a means of identifying medication adherence to facilitate medicines optimization for a range of disparate diseases. Furthermore, the opportunity to personalize healthcare for different patients by assessing the clinically necessary therapeutic level of the relevant drugs is highlighted.

Quantitative LC–HRMS determination of selected cardiovascular drugs, in dried blood spots, as an indicator of adherence to medication

“…Current methods to assess medication adherence involves patient self-report, pill counts, pharmacy refill or claims, data logs or electronic monitors. None of these can confirm the patient ingested the medication and therefore only capture a part of the information needed for accurate assessment of medication adherence and consequently may lead to optimistic results [11,12]. Sensors are now available that can document ingestion but patient security and cost may be of concern [13,14].…”

Useful pharmacodynamic endpoints in children: selection, measurement, and next steps

“…Achieving medication adherence can be highly challenging in the pediatric setting ( 60 ). Various innovative ways of evaluating adherence in pediatric clinical studies, including electronic measurement ( 61 ), and measurements of drug and metabolites through various media ( 62 , 63 ) merit further research.…”

Parents' perspectives on dried blood spot self‐sampling from children with epilepsy: A mixed‐method study

“…Dried blood spot sampling is an alternative sampling strategy that has been introduced recently for therapeutic drug monitoring (measuring drug concentration for optimising individual patient drug treatment) 3 . Self‐sampling at home can be beneficial for children with epilepsy and their families, since it can reduce the stress that comes with regular visits to a clinic for blood sampling.…”