Adherence to topical dermatological therapy: lessons from oral drug treatment

Patients are remarkably nonadherent to medical treatment regimens across all diseases and classes of therapy, and it has been estimated that nonadherence to drug treatment is responsible for as many as 10% of all hospital admissions. Nonadherence to treatment also has significant negative effects on treatment outcomes across a wide range of diseases. Patient-related factors such as age, ethnicity, literacy (including health literacy), health beliefs, and socioeconomic conditions have been shown to influence adherence to oral therapy. Medication-related factors, such as regimen complexity and duration of treatment, also impact on adherence. Variables that significantly influence adherence to oral drugs have similar effects on adherence to topical therapy. Both educational and psychological interventions along with simplification of dosing regimens can significantly improve adherence to oral therapy and limited evidence indicates that these approaches are also effective in patients receiving topical therapy. There is very little information about the effects of dosing regimens on adherence to topical medical therapy. The advent of new drug formulations that permit once-daily or single-dose drug application will, however, permit evaluation of different topical treatment regimens on adherence and treatment outcomes in patients with dermatological disease.