Murray M D, Birt J A, Manatunga A K, Darnell J C
Department of Pharmacy Practice, School of Pharmacy, Purdue University, Wishard Memorial Hospital, Indianapolis, IN 46202.
Ann Pharmacother. 1993 May;27(5):616-21. doi: 10.1177/106002809302700517.
To determine the effect of unit-of-use drug packaging of medications on compliance among elderly outpatients treated with complex medication regimens.
Nonblind, randomized, clinical trial.
Geriatric outreach health centers in urban public housing units for independent-living elderly people.
Thirty-one patients (aged > or = 60 y), each taking three or more prescribed medications. Patients were randomly assigned to one of three study groups: group 1 (n = 12), no change in dosing or packaging; group 2 (n = 10), conventional packaging with twice-daily dosing; group 3 (n = 9), unit-of-use packaging with twice-daily dosing.
A unit-of-use package consisting of a two-ounce plastic cup with a snap-on lid containing all medications to be taken at the time of dosing.
Medication compliance was assessed monthly for six months using tablet counts.
Medication compliance was significantly better in group 3 (92.6 percent) using unit-of-use packaging compared with either group 1 (79 percent) or group 2 (82.6 percent) (p = 0.017). Compliance did not differ between groups 1 and 2.
In this small study of elderly outpatients taking three or more medications, unit-of-use packaging and twice-daily dosing improved medication compliance compared with conventional packaging.
确定复方药物治疗方案中老年门诊患者的单位剂量包装药物对服药依从性的影响。
非盲法、随机临床试验。
城市公共住房单元中为独立生活老年人设立的老年外展健康中心。
31名患者（年龄≥60岁），每人服用三种或更多的处方药。患者被随机分配到三个研究组之一：第1组（n = 12），给药方式和包装均不变；第2组（n = 10），传统包装，每日给药两次；第3组（n = 9），单位剂量包装，每日给药两次。
单位剂量包装为一个两盎司带扣盖塑料杯，装有一次给药所需的所有药物。
使用药片计数法，在6个月内每月评估一次服药依从性。
与第1组（79%）或第2组（82.6%）相比，采用单位剂量包装的第3组服药依从性显著更好（92.6%）（p = 0.017）。第1组和第2组之间的依从性无差异。
在这项针对服用三种或更多药物的老年门诊患者的小型研究中，与传统包装相比，单位剂量包装和每日两次给药提高了服药依从性。
