Medication adherence in thoracic transplant candidates.

Area of Science:

• Transplant Medicine
• Psychosocial Health
• Patient Adherence

Background:

• Medication nonadherence significantly impacts transplant recipient outcomes.
• Early identification of nonadherence in pre-transplant candidates is challenging.
• The Simplified Medication Adherence Questionnaire (SMAQ) is a validated tool for assessing adherence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To administer the SMAQ to thoracic organ transplant candidates.
• To identify patient-specific factors associated with pre-transplant medication nonadherence.
• To explore correlations between SMAQ scores and demographic/psychosocial predictors.

Main Methods:

• Survey distribution including SMAQ and demographic data to waitlisted candidates.
• Inclusion of lung, heart, and heart-lung transplant candidates from six centers.
• Univariate logistic regression analysis to determine associations with nonadherence.

Main Results:

• 60.7% of 298 participants exhibited medication nonadherence.
• Nonadherence correlated with some college education, lower positive affect, and higher uncertainty.
• A higher positivity ratio was a predictor of medication adherence.

Conclusions:

• Patient-specific factors predicting nonadherence can be identified during transplant evaluation.
• Pre-transplant interventions targeting identified factors may enhance post-transplant outcomes.
• Further research is required to validate these findings in larger cohorts.