An older study, but one worth considering.
To determine which modes of treatment resulted in the highest rates of adherence, a retrospective claims database study from January 2005 through December 2011 was undertaken. The study included 106,039 men, 18-65 years of age who had initiated TRT and were diagnosed with hypogonadism or hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. A minimum of 6 months continuous enrollment before and 12 months after the TRT index date was required. Adherence was measured by the Mediation Possession Ratio (MPR) and the Proportion of Days Covered (PDC), with the adherence rate defined as MPR≥0.8. The rate of the first switching was summarized by TRT formulation.
"Medication adherence and switching rates of patients with testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in the United States," [style=font-style:italic;]Value in Health Journal,[/style]May 2014, http://www.valueinhealthjournal.com/article/S1098-3015(14)01586-1/fulltext
To determine which modes of treatment resulted in the highest rates of adherence, a retrospective claims database study from January 2005 through December 2011 was undertaken. The study included 106,039 men, 18-65 years of age who had initiated TRT and were diagnosed with hypogonadism or hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. A minimum of 6 months continuous enrollment before and 12 months after the TRT index date was required. Adherence was measured by the Mediation Possession Ratio (MPR) and the Proportion of Days Covered (PDC), with the adherence rate defined as MPR≥0.8. The rate of the first switching was summarized by TRT formulation.
The overall adherence rate over 12 months was 21.4% ranging from 28% (pellets), 19.9% (SAIs), 17.7% (gels), 7.8% (buccal), and 6.6% (patch), respectively. Similarly, the average PDCs were significantly higher for pellets (0.59) compared to gels (0.43), SAIs (0.39), buccal (0.28), and patch (0.27) (P<0.001). About 13% (n = 13,577) of patients switched from their initial therapy to a different TRT formulation. Patients starting with patch were most likely to switch to a different formulation (39.3%), followed by patients with SAIs (12.1%), pellets/buccal (12.0%), and gels (10.3%).
"Medication adherence and switching rates of patients with testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in the United States," [style=font-style:italic;]Value in Health Journal,[/style]May 2014, http://www.valueinhealthjournal.com/article/S1098-3015(14)01586-1/fulltext
