The authors found that more people dumped their meds as time went on. In fact 12 percent more people dumped their medications one or more time during the next eight months. In total, about 30 percent of the people who were blinded to the use of the electronic monitor dumped their medication one or more times. However, researchers could come up with nothing that allowed them to predict who would and who wouldn't dump their mediations. One of the important implications of this study is that drugs may appear to be less effective in clinical trials than they actually are.
Nurses are frequently the ones who interact with patients in clinical trials.
Simmons says the best advice is simply to be aware of the patterns of noncompliance in clinical trials-even thought it's sometimes impossible to know what's really happening. Lisette Hilton is a freelance medical and business writer. All Rights Reserved.