Intensive Intervention Improves Medication Adherence . . .

Precise adherence to a medication regimen is necessary for therapeutic success, but patients take their medications far more erratically than we like to think. Can a course of directly observed therapy (DOT), a strategy developed for tuberculosis control that involves daily supervision of medication use at home or in a clinic, teach patients better long-term habits?

U.S. researchers enrolled 65 stable HIV-positive adults who attended a methadone maintenance treatment program 5 or 6 days weekly; they were randomized to DOT (each dose of HIV medication was dispensed daily by a nurse) or usual care (self-administered antivirals) for 24 weeks. For any remaining daily antiretroviral doses, as well as for doses on days the program was closed, DOT …