Barriers to medication adherence in children, adolescents, and young adults prescribed anticoagulation

Pediatric and adolescent and young adult (AYA) thromboembolism is treated with anticoagulation, but little is known about adherence. The aims of this study were to describe barriers to adherence among children and AYAs (ages 0-25 years) prescribed anticoagulants and to explore the relationship between barriers and self-reported adherence. Nearly 75% of patients and caregivers reported barriers, and a larger number of barriers was associated with missing at least one dose in the past month per both patient (r(pb) = 0.48, p = .01) and caregiver (r(pb) = 0.52, p = .01) report. Limitations, clinical implications, and future directions are discussed.

Automated summary

This study aims to describe barriers to adherence among children and young adults prescribed anticoagulants and explore the relationship between barriers and self-reported adherence. The results show that nearly 75% of patients and caregivers reported barriers, and a larger number of barriers were associated with missing at least one dose of medication.