TY  - JOUR
IS  - 9
A1  - Alsous, M
A1  - Abu Farha, R
A1  - Alefishat, E
A1  - Al Omar, S
A1  - Momani, D
A1  - Gharabli, A
A1  - McElnay, J
A1  - Horne, R
A1  - Rihani, R
PB  - PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
Y1  - 2017/09/06/
UR  - http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183119
TI  - Adherence to 6-Mercaptopurine in children and adolescents with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
KW  - Science & Technology
KW  -  Multidisciplinary Sciences
KW  -  Science & Technology - Other Topics
KW  -  INFLAMMATORY-BOWEL-DISEASE
KW  -  SELF-REPORT
KW  -  MEDICATION ADHERENCE
KW  -  MAINTENANCE THERAPY
KW  -  DRUG-THERAPY
KW  -  CHILDHOOD
KW  -  MERCAPTOPURINE
KW  -  ISSUES
KW  -  AZATHIOPRINE
KW  -  RELAPSE
SN  - 1932-6203
N1  - © 2017 Alsous et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
ID  - discovery10024269
AV  - public
JF  - PLOS ONE
EP  - 12
N2  - OBJECTIVE:

Studies on children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) reported non-adherence in 2?54% of cases. The primary objective of this study was to assess rates of adherence to 6-MP using two different methods in children and adolescents with ALL. Secondary aim was to identify factors that influence adherence to 6-MP in children with ALL.

METHODS:

All eligible children with ALL who are (? 19) years old and receive 6-MP therapy for at least 1 month were approached to participate in the study. A total of 52 children with ALL and their primary caregivers were recruited. Adherence measures included an objective method (measuring 6-MP metabolites in packed Red Blood Cells (RBCs)) and a subjective method (using parent and child self-report via the Medication Adherence Report Scale; MARS; Adherence was defined as 90% or greater).

RESULTS:

Rates of adherence varied across the measurement methods. Packed RBCs sample analysis indicated forty-four patients (84.6%) to be adherent. Using the MARS questionnaires, a total of 49 children (94.2%) were classified as being adherent according to the parental MARS questionnaire scores, while all the 15 children (100%) who answered the MARS (child) questionnaire were classified as adherent. Overall adherence rate was 80.8% within the studied population.

CONCLUSION:

MARS scale was shown to overestimate adherence compared to measurement of 6-MP metabolites in the blood. A combination of both methods led to increased detection of non-adherence to thiopurine in children with ALL.
VL  - 12
ER  -