Adherence to osteoporosis medications after patient and physician brief education: post hoc analysis of a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To examine whether adherence to osteoporosis medications can be improved by educational interventions targeted at primary care physicians (PCPs) and patients.

Study Design: Post hoc analysis of data collected as part of a prospective randomized controlled trial to improve initiation of osteoporosis management such as bone mineral density testing or osteoporosis drug initiation.

Methods: The trial was conducted among patients at risk for osteoporosis enrolled in Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. For a 3-month period, randomly selected PCPs and their patients received education about osteoporosis diagnosis and treatment. The PCPs received face-to-face education by trained pharmacists, while patients received letters and automated telephone calls. The control group received no education. We assessed medication adherence during 10 months following the start of the intervention using the medication possession ratio (MPR), the ratio of available medication to the total number of days studied.

Results: These analyses included 1867 patients (972 randomized to the intervention group and 875 to the control group) and their 436 PCPs. During 10 months following the intervention, the median MPRs were 74% (interquartile range [IQR], 19%-93%) for the intervention group and 73% (IQR, 0%-93%) for the control group (P = .18). The median times until medication discontinuation after the intervention were 85 days (IQR, 58-174 days) for the intervention group and 79 days (IQR, 31-158 days) for the control group.

Conclusion: The educational intervention did not significantly improve medication compliance or persistence with osteoporosis drugs.