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REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Drugs Outcomes Research and Policies
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1452464
This article is part of the Research Topic The Continuing Challenge of Medication Adherence View all articles

Chemical Adherence Testing in the Clinical Management of Hypertension: A Scoping Review

Provisionally accepted
Louise Rabbitt Louise Rabbitt 1,2*James Curneen James Curneen 1,2Michael C. Dennedy Michael C. Dennedy 1,2Gerry J. Molloy Gerry J. Molloy 1
  • 1 University of Galway, Galway, Ireland
  • 2 University Hospital Galway, Galway, County Galway, Ireland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Despite growing use, questions remain surrounding the utility, acceptability and feasibility of chemical adherence testing (CAT) as part of hypertension management in clinical practice.This scoping review aimed to (i) identify and summarise studies using CAT in hypertension management, and (ii) describe and critically evaluate how CAT is currently being used in the clinical management of hypertension.Peer-reviewed and published studies in English, reporting original research in any setting, with any study design, were included. Search concepts included hypertension, medication adherence, CAT, and their synonyms.Searches were carried out using Ovid Medline, EMBASE, and PsycInfo (EBSCO), alongside manual searching of reference lists. Using Covidence software, we screened titles and abstracts, followed by full-text articles. Data from the included articles were tabulated and summarised.Of the 618 studies identified, 48 were included. The studies cover diverse clinical settings, and were mostly observational in design. 7 studies reporting adherence analyses within clinical trials for hypertension therapies. The use of theoretical frameworks to guide reporting was rare, and there was considerable variation in key terminology and definitions, most notably in the definition of adherence.The current body of evidence demonstrates considerable variability in the approach to implementing CAT for hypertension management in clinical practice, and a paucity of randomised controlled trials to evaluate its impact. Future research could (i) adopt a cohesive theoretical framework including clear operational definitions to standardise the approach to this important topic; (ii) further explore the impact of CAT on clinical outcomes using RCTs.

    Keywords: Hypertension, Adherence - Compliance - Persistance, chemical adherence testing, Mass Spectrometry, Blood Pressure, Antihypertensive

    Received: 20 Jun 2024; Accepted: 18 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Rabbitt, Curneen, Dennedy and Molloy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Louise Rabbitt, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.