Strategies to Promote Adherence Among Kidney Transplant Recipients
Project status
Collaborators
Peter Reese, MD, MSCE
Roy Bloom, MD
Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD
Innovation leads
Opportunity
Kidney transplant recipients are at higher risk of transplant loss if they do not take immunosuppression drugs as prescribed.
Intervention
A team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania leveraged Way to Health to test whether digital technology and nudges could help kidney transplant recipients improve their adherence to immunosuppression drugs.
The team enrolled 120 participants in a six-month randomized controlled trial. Participants received electronic pill bottles that wirelessly transmitted data about bottle opening and were assigned to one of the groups below.
-
Customized reminders
-
Customized reminders and alerts to providers if adherence dropped
-
No reminders or provider notifications (control)
Impact
Mean adherence hovered around 55 percent in the control group, 78 percent in the reminder group, and 88 percent in the reminders-plus-notifications group.
These results indicate that customized reminders and social incentives can help patients achieve better medication adherence. Further research is needed to validate if such interventions can drive improved clinical outcomes.