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Does the frequency of daily dosage influence compliance with digoxin therapy?
Author(s) -
Taggart AJ,
Johnston GD,
McDevitt DG
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
british journal of clinical pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.216
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1365-2125
pISSN - 0306-5251
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2125.1981.tb01098.x
Subject(s) - digoxin , medicine , dose , compliance (psychology) , defined daily dose , dosage form , patient compliance , anesthesia , drug , pharmacology , emergency medicine , heart failure , psychology , social psychology
1 The influence of daily dosage frequency on drug compliance has been studied in 80 outpatients for whom maintenance digoxin 0.25 mg daily had been prescribed. 2 Each patient took one tablet (0.25 mg) daily, two tablets (0.125 mg) daily and four tablets (0.0625 mg) daily in randomised order for 2 month periods. 3 Compliance was assessed by tablet counting and by serial measurement of the plasma digoxin concentration. 4 Of the 67 patients (100%) who could have completed the study, 19 (28.4%) were withdrawal for a variety of reasons; in the majority these were consistent with gross non‐compliance. 5 The remaining 48 patients (71.6%) took significantly more tablets when prescribed once daily (98.5 +/− 1.0% of the total) or twice daily (96.4 +/− 1.6%) than when given four times daily (92.2 +/− 1.9%). However, there were no significant differences between the plasma digoxin levels obtained at the three dosage frequencies. 6 We conclude that the small improvement in compliance with once or twice daily dosage was clinically unimportant. Dosage frequency did not appear to have a major influence on the grossly non‐compliant patients.