Medication Adherence After Renal Transplantation-a Review of the Literature

Whether or not patients follow the advice given by their healthcare professional is commonly referred to as adherence. In the case of kidney transplantation, transplant recipients need to take immunosuppressive drugs on a regular basis to prevent rejection of their transplant. However, medication adherence can be problematic for many patients.

This critical appraisal of evidence aimed to gain insights into factors contributing to adherence and non-adherence in recipients of kidney transplants, and to explore patients' perceptions regarding adherence to immunosuppression.

A comprehensive literature search was performed using Medline, PsycInfo, the Joanna Briggs Institute, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library. Included were primary research studies or reviews of primary research, independent of their research paradigms, on adult kidney or kidney/pancreas transplant recipients published in English or German. Children or adolescents were not considered. No time-frame was applied RESULTS: Fifty-two papers were included in the review. All extracted findings of included papers were organised according to the five factors influencing medication-taking behaviour as defined by the World Health Organisation: social and economic factors; therapy-related factors; patient-related factors; condition-related factors; healthcare team and system-related factors.

Reasons for non-adherence after kidney transplantations are diverse. Attention is attracted by the fact that potentially modifiable factors such as social support, experiences on dialysis, side effects, features of the treatment regimen, intentions and beliefs, forgetfulness and mental health issues play a greater role than other factors in the development of medication non-adherence. Factors not related to patient characteristics seem to be under researched.