Preliminary Validation of an Unannounced Telephone Pill Count Protocol to Measure Medication Adherence Among Young Adults With Perinatal HIV Infection.

The study measured association at one time point, so it cannot show that pill counts caused or predicted later adherence or viral suppression. Only 62 participants were analysed, and some subgroups were small, so subgroup findings may be unstable. The analysis used only the adherence score closest to the blood draw, not the full set of monthly scores. The study did not account for current antiretroviral regimen, history of virologic failure, or drug resistance, which can affect viral load. Viral load was used as the reference standard, but it is not a perfect measure of medication-taking behavior. Many eligible participants did not provide both pill count and blood draw data, although included and excluded groups did not differ on demographics or chart viral load.

The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural research funding. The authors declared no real or perceived conflicts of interest.

Do not conclude that telephone pill counts prove a patient took medications or that they can replace viral load testing. The study only showed an association between pill count scores and viral load in the analytic sample.