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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Urol. Mar 24, 2015; 4(1): 27-37
Published online Mar 24, 2015. doi: 10.5410/wjcu.v4.i1.27
Adherence to immunosuppressor medication in renal transplanted patients
Francisco Ortega, Carmen Díaz-Corte, Covadonga Valdés
Francisco Ortega, Spanish Commission of Nephrology, Clinical Management Area of Nephrology in Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Medicine Department, Oviedo University, 33012 Oviedo, Spain
Carmen Díaz-Corte, Clinical Management Area of Nephrology in Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Medicine Department, Oviedo University, 33012 Oviedo, Spain
Covadonga Valdés, Clinical Management Area of Nephrology in Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo University, 33012 Oviedo, Spain
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest: All authors declare they have no conflict of interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Francisco Ortega, ex-Professor, President of Spanish Commission of Nephrology, ex-Director of Clinical Management Area of Nephrology in Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Medicine Department, Oviedo University, c/Celestino Villamil s/n, 33012 Oviedo, Spain. ortegafrancisco491@gmail.com
Telephone: +34-985-257592 Fax: +34-985-108015
Received: April 25, 2014
Peer-review started: April 29, 2014
First decision: May 20, 2014
Revised: November 26, 2014
Accepted: December 16, 2014
Article in press: December 17, 2014
Published online: March 24, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: Non-adherence is a priority public health concern. In renal transplantation, adherence is crucial to preserve graft functioning. Non-adherence rates of up to 70% of patients, including immediately after transplantation demonstrate the need for early and continued interventions after transplantation to maximise clinical outcomes. To increase the diagnostic accuracy of non-adherence, several measures must be combined. Multiple risk-factors exist. The strategies to foster medication-taking must focus on modifiable risk-factors and be of multidimensional nature. The strategies reported in the literature, some keys to understand non-adherence, and a few intervention studies are reviewed in this paper.