The use of combined remote electronic monitoring and blood concentrations of antipsychotics for assessment of therapeutic adherence in patients with schizophrenia: results of a prospective study.

Summary: Taking medicine every day can be hard, especially for people with schizophrenia. Doctors wanted to know if their patients were really taking their pills as prescribed. To find out, they gave 55 patients a smart pillbox that recorded every time it was opened for a week. They also tested the patients' blood before and after that week to check the medicine levels in their bodies. They found that about 7 out of 10 patients took their medicine correctly. This mixed method of using a smart pillbox and blood tests worked very well to track who was following their treatment!