Pilot Intervention to Improve Medication Adherence Among Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Using Pharmacy Refill Data.

Abstract

Objective

Despite high rates of medication nonadherence among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), effective interventions to improve adherence in SLE are limited. We aimed to assess the feasibility of a pilot intervention and explore its effect on adherence.

Methods

The intervention used pharmacy refill data to monitor nonadherence and prompt discussions surrounding SLE medications during clinic encounters. Over 12 weeks, the intervention was delivered through routine clinic visits by providers to patients with SLE who take SLE-specific medications. We measured acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility using provider surveys. We also measured acceptability by patient surveys and feasibility by medical record documentation. We explored change in adherence by comparing percent of patients with medication possession ratio (MPR) ≥80% 3 months before and after the intervention visit using the McNemar's test.

Results

Six rheumatologists participated; 130 patients were included in the analysis (median age 43, 95% female, and 59% racial and ethnic minorities). Implementation of the intervention was documented in 89% of clinic notes. Provider surveys showed high scores for feasibility (4.7/5), acceptability (4.4/5), and appropriateness (4.6/5). Among patient surveys, the most common reactions to the intervention visit were feeling determined (32%), empowered (32%), and proud (19%). Proportion of patients with MPR ≥80% increased from 48% to 58% (P = 0.03) after the intervention visit.

Conclusion

Our intervention showed feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness and led to a statistically significant improvement in adherence. Future work should refine the intervention, assess its efficacy in a controlled setting, and adapt its use among other clinic settings.

Department

Description

Provenance

Subjects

Humans, Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic, Ambulatory Care, Pilot Projects, Pharmacy, Adult, Female, Male, Medication Adherence

Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1002/acr.24806

Publication Info

Sun, Kai, Amanda M Eudy, Jennifer L Rogers, Lisa G Criscione-Schreiber, Rebecca E Sadun, Jayanth Doss, Mithu Maheswaranathan, Ann Cameron Barr, et al. (2023). Pilot Intervention to Improve Medication Adherence Among Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Using Pharmacy Refill Data. Arthritis care & research, 75(3). pp. 550–558. 10.1002/acr.24806 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/29368.

This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.

Scholars@Duke

Sun

Kai Sun

Associate Professor of Medicine

My clinical interests are in general rheumatology, lupus, and musculoskeletal ultrasound. My research interest is in healthcare disparities and medication adherence in rheumatology.

Eudy

Amanda Marie Eudy

Associate Professor in Medicine
Rogers

Jennifer Lee Rogers

Associate Professor of Medicine
Criscione-Schreiber

Lisa Giorgina Criscione-Schreiber

Professor of Medicine

My clinical interests include systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and inflammatory myopathies.  In 2007, I co-founded the Duke Lupus Clinic with Dr. Megan Clowse.  We have continued this clinic with the aim to improve the health and quality of life for individuals living with lupus. In 2024, I co-founded the Duke Myositis Clinic with Dr. Nathaniel Harris. Similarly, we aim to improve the health, function, and quality of life for individuals living with inflammatory myopathies. 

My primary research interests are in education and in SLE.  My particular interest within education is learner assessment.  I was previously funded by a Clinician Scholar Educator Award through the Rheumatology Research Foundation of the American College of Rheumatology.  My CSE project explored validation of a rheumatology objective structured clinical examination (ROSCE). I continue to collaborate with the Rheumatology Program Directors at UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, the Medical University of South Carolina and Massachusetts General Hospital through our Carolinas Fellows Collaborative. Members of this group composed the competency-based goals and objectives (CBGO) for all learning activities of rheumatology fellowship training programs, which were adopted by the American College of Rheumatology and are posted on their website. I have been very involved in rheumatology curricular efforts through the American College of Rheumatology. I served on the Milestones working group and am a past member and past Chair of the ACR Curriculum Subcommittee of the Committee on Training and Workforce. I previously participated on the ACR/NBME rheumatology in-training examination working group.               

Clinical research in lupus has included the Duke Lupus Registry population.  Our recent work focuses on creating and defining the type 1 and type 2 lupus paradigms for classifying lupus disease activity.  Additional interests through the Duke Lupus Clinic include elucidating clinician-level factors that can influence medication adherence as well as determining how health literacy and numeracy impact adherence and patient level outcomes.  I collaborate with Dr. Megan Clowse, who studies reproductive health in women with autoimmune diseases.  We have combined her subject matter expertise with my educational skills to create HOP-STEP, a program to teach patients with lupus and their rheumatologists about pregnancy planning to improve health outcomes.  We have created lupuspregnancy.org, which houses many resources and videos designed to teach rheumatologists to better partner with women with lupus to have open and honest discussions about pregnancy planning.  Our ultimate aim is to improve the health outcomes for women with lupus and their offspring. 

Sadun

Rebecca Eli Sadun

Associate Professor of Medicine

I am an adult and pediatric rheumatologist with clinical and research interests in the areas of lupus and transition to adult care.  My time is split between the departments of Medicine and Pediatrics.  In addition to seeing patients in both environments, I run a dedicated Young Adult Rheumatology Clinic in collaboration with Duke Family Medicine.

Maheswaranathan

Mithunan Maheswaranathan

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Eder

Lena Vaynberg Eder

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Corneli

Amy Lynn Corneli

Professor in Population Health Sciences

Dr. Amy Corneli, a social scientist by training, conducts qualitative, mixed-method, intervention, and implementation science research. Her work spans the U.S. and multiple countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia. She has a history of collaborating with and learning from community organizations and representatives in conducting research with populations that face discrimination, bias, or unequal treatment within the healthcare system and society due to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. Her collaborative research often focuses on generating synergies between the creativity of art and the analytical thinking of science. The findings from her research inform clinical trials and practice, socio-behavioral interventions, guideline development, and the practical dissemination of proven interventions.

Dr. Corneli's current research portfolio encompasses three areas:

  1. Leading, co-leading, mentoring, and supporting qualitative, mixed-methods, and implementation science research in HIV prevention.
  2. Serving as a methodological investigative partner on qualitative, mixed-methods, and intervention research on a variety of health conditions and topics with faculty in the School of Medicine at Duke University.
  3. Leading the social science team for the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative, a public-private initiative between Duke University and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.


Dr. Corneli is also the:

  1. Founder and Director of QualCore, a group of PhD- and master-level social scientists who partner with Duke faculty to provide scientific direction and interviewing and analysis expertise in qualitative research.
  2. Co-founder and Director of The BASE (Bioethics and Stakeholder Engagement) Lab, a group of faculty and staff that partner with clinical investigators at Duke to conduct research with key contributors to inform the planning, conduct, interpretation, and reporting of clinical research.
  3. Director of the Duke CFAR Social and Behavioral Sciences Core.


QualCore | https://populationhealth.duke.edu/research/qualcore

The BASE Lab | https://populationhealth.duke.edu/research/base-lab

Duke CFAR Social and Behavioral Sciences Core | https://cfar.duke.edu 

Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative | https://www.ctti-clinicaltrials.org 

Prior to joining Duke University, Dr. Corneli was engaged in biomedical HIV prevention research at FHI 360 for 10 years.

Clowse

Megan Elizabeth Bowles Clowse

Professor of Medicine

Dr. Megan Clowse is a Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology; she also holds joint appointments in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Population Health Sciences.  Her clinical research focuses on the management of rheumatic diseases in pregnancy. She has cared for over 1000 pregnancies in women with rheumatic disease, collecting information on these pregnancies initially in the Duke Autoimmunity in Pregnancy Registry and Repository, and the MADRA (Maternal Autoimmune Disease Research Alliance) registry and repository.  She served on the Core Leadership Team for the inaugural American College of Rheumatology's Reproductive Health Guidelines, published January 2020.  Dr. Clowse created www.LupusPregnancy.org and www.ReproRheum.Duke.edu, websites dedicated to improving pregnancy planning and management for patients and rheumatologists.  

Dr. Clowse was the founding director of the Duke Lupus Clinic, where she continues to see patients each week and mentor junior faculty researchers.  The team has developed a new approach to lupus classification and management and is currently collecting and analyzing patient- and physician-reported measures to  better clarify this construct.  



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