There are many situations in clinical practice where adherence is extremely important for better therapeutic outcomes. These include:
• Chronic diseases: such
as diabetes and hypertension.
• Replacement therapy: e.g. Thyroxin and insulin.
• Maintenance of
pharmacological effect: antihypertensive and oral hypoglycemic agents.
• Maintenance of serum
drug concentration to control a particular disorder: e.g. anticonvulsants.
• Some diseases of public
health importance where non-adherence are a major obstacle to achieving
control: tuberculosis, HIV, and related opportunistic infections.