BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness, the pharmacological treatment of which comprises primarily the use of antipsychotics. However, non-adherence to their use and its reliable determination present a serious clinical and economic problem. This study aimed to determine therapeutic adherence in outpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders by combining short-term electronic monitoring of dispenser opening with the measurement of antipsychotic blood concentrations. METHODS: A total of 55 patients underwent a week-long electronic monitoring of dispenser opening and measurement of blood concentrations before and after monitoring. Patients who correctly opened the dispenser at least in 80% of scheduled time points during the weekly interval and, at the same time, did not show a change in blood concentration of the antipsychotic by more than 30% in any direction, were considered adherent. RESULTS: 69.1% of the patients met the adherence criteria, which was less than that determined by the Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI-10), the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and the Clinician Rating Scale (CRS). 7.3% of the patients took less than 80% of the prescribed doses and a change in blood concentrations of the antipsychotic by more than 30% was detected in 25.4% of the patients. In 70.9% of patients, the detected concentrations were within the recommended therapeutic reference interval. The groups of adherent and non-adherent patients did not differ statistically significantly in the severity of their illness as determined by the Clinical Global Impression (CGI), the Personal and Social Performance scale (PSP), and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). CONCLUSIONS: The combined method of evaluating adherence in schizophrenia patients confirmed the results determined by other methods. The benefits of this approach are described in the paper.

• Keywords
• Antipsychotics, Schizophrenia, Telehealth, Therapeutic adherence, Therapeutic drug monitoring,
• MeSH
• Medication Adherence * psychology   MeSH
• Antipsychotic Agents * blood   therapeutic use   MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Drug Monitoring * methods   MeSH
• Prospective Studies MeSH
• Schizophrenia * drug therapy   blood   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Antipsychotic Agents * MeSH