%0 Journal Article
%T Adherence to Plasmodium vivax malaria treatment in the Brazilian Amazon Region
%A Elza A Pereira
%A Edna AY Ishikawa
%A Cor JF Fontes
%J Malaria Journal
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1475-2875-10-355
%X Patients who were being treated for P. vivax malaria with chloroquine plus primaquine were eligible for the study. On the seventh day of taking primaquine, they were visited at their home and were interviewed. The patients were classified as probably adherent, if they reported having taken all the medication as prescribed, in the correct period of time and dosage, and had no medication tablets remaining; probably non-adherent, if they reported not having taken the medication, in the correct period of time and dosage, and did not show any remaining tablets; and certainly non-adherent, if they showed any remaining medication tablets.242 of the 280 patients reported having correctly followed the prescribed instructions and represented a treatment adherence frequency (CI95%) of 86.4% (81.7%-90.1%). Of the 38 patients who did not follow the recommendations, 27 (9.6%) were still taking the medication on the day of the interview and, therefore, still had primaquine tablets left in the blister pack. These patients were then classified as certainly non-adherent to treatment. Although 11 patients did not show any tablets left, they reported incorrect use of the prescribed therapy regimen and were considered as probably non-adherent to treatment.Compliance with the P. vivax malaria treatment is a characteristic of 242/280 patients in the surveyed region. However, the group of non-adherent patients can have an impact on the magnitude of transmission and relapses of P. vivax infections currently observed in the studied area. Simple practices can be introduced in the healthcare services in order to improve compliance with the treatment prescribed.In 2010, 306,908 cases of malaria were recorded in Brazil, 85% of which were caused by Plasmodium vivax. The majority (99.7%) of such cases occurred in the Amazon Region [1], where P. vivax infections are treated with a chloroquine plus primaquine regimen. Although this regimen is effective in different dosages and/or duration of treatme
%K Malaria
%K Treatment
%K Adherence
%U http://www.malariajournal.com/content/10/1/355