ReviewAIDS research and treatment2014
The Effect on Treatment Adherence of Administering Drugs as Fixed-Dose Combinations versus as Separate Pills: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in AIDS research and treatment, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Barriers and facilitators of interventions for improving antiretroviral therapy adherence: a systematic review of global qualitative evidence.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2016Pooled it
- Bioequivalence and Food Effect Assessment of 2 Fixed-Dose Combination Formulations of Dolutegravir and Lamivudine.Clinical pharmacology in drug development · 2020Trial
- Quality by Design for Bilayer Tablets: Integrating Formulation, Manufacturing, and Process Analytical Technology.AAPS PharmSciTech · 2026Review
- Personalized Medicine Through Semisolid-Extrusion Based 3D Printing: Dual-Drug Loaded Gummies for Enhanced Patient Compliance.Pharmaceutical research · 2025Article
- Single-Pill Combination to Improve Hypertension Treatment: Pharmaceutical Industry Development.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Health literacy of people living with HIV in a rural area in Indonesia: A cross-sectional study.Health & social care in the community · 2021Article
- Effectiveness of the combination elvitegravir/cobicistat/tenofovir/emtricitabine (EVG/COB/TFV/FTC) plus darunavir among treatment-experienced patients in clinical practice: a multicentre cohort study.AIDS research and therapy · 2020Article
- Does the Polypill Improve Patient Adherence Compared to Its Individual Formulations? A Systematic Review.Pharmaceutics · 2020Review
- Improvements in the South African HIV care cascade: findings on 90-90-90 targets from successive population-representative surveys in North West Province.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2019Article
- The Impact of Treatment Adherence for Patients With Diabetes and Hypertension on Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Protocol for a Retrospective Cohort Study, 2008-2018.JMIR research protocols · 2019Article
- Clinical outcomes in hypertensive patients treated with a single-pill fixed-dose combination of renin-angiotensin system inhibitor and thiazide diuretic.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2018Article
- HIV virologic response better with single-tablet once daily regimens compared to multiple-tablet daily regimens.SAGE open medicine · 2018Article
- The right combination - treatment outcomes among HIV-positive patients initiating first-line fixed-dose antiretroviral therapy in a public sector HIV clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa.Clinical epidemiology · 2018Article
- Adherence to antihyperglycemic medications and glucagon-like peptide 1-receptor agonists in type 2 diabetes: clinical consequences and strategies for improvement.Patient preference and adherence · 2018Review
- Key Factors Influencing the Emergence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Drug Resistance in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2017Review
- Lipodystrophy among HIV-Infected Patients Attending Care and Treatment Clinics in Dar es Salaam.AIDS research and treatment · 2017Article
- Patients' Willingness to Take Multiple-Tablet Antiretroviral Therapy Regimens for Treatment of HIV.Drugs - real world outcomes · 2016Article
- Observational
- Development of Sustained Release "NanoFDC (Fixed Dose Combination)" for Hypertension - An Experimental Study.PloS one · 2015Article
- HIV in people reincarcerated in Connecticut prisons and jails: an observational cohort study.The lancet. HIV · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Administering drugs as fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) versus the same active drugs administered as separate pills is assumed to enhance treatment adherence. We synthesized evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about the effect of FDCs versus separate pills on adherence. We searched PubMed for RCTs comparing a FDC with the same active drugs administered as separate pills, including a quantitative estimate of treatment adherence, without restriction to medical condition. The odds ratio (OR) of optimal adherence with FDCs versus separate pills was used as common effect size and aggregated into a pooled effect estimate using a random effect model with inverse variance weights. Out of 1258 articles screened, only six studies fulfilled inclusion criteria. Across medical conditions, administering drugs as FDC significantly increased the likelihood of optimal adherence (OR 1.33 (95% CI, 1.03-1.71)). Within subgroups of specific medical conditions, the favourable effect of FDCs on adherence was of borderline statistical significance for HIV infection only (OR 1.46 (95% CI, 1.00-2.13)). We observed a remarkable paucity of RCTs comparing the effect on adherence of administering drugs as FDC versus as separate pills. Administering drugs as FDC improved medication adherence. However, this conclusion is based on a limited number of RCTs only.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.