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| Methods | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|
| Directly observed therapy | Most accurate | Patients can hide pills in mouth and then discard them; impractical for routine use |
| Biochemical measurement of the medicine or metabolite or measurement of a biological marker | Objective | Variations in metabolism and “white coat” adherence can give a false impression; expensive |
| Patient questionnaires or self-reports | Simple, inexpensive, most useful in clinical practice | Susceptible to error and distortion |
| Pill counts | Objective, quantifiable and easy to perform | Data easily altered by the patient (e.g., pill dumping) |
| Rates of prescription refills | Objective, easy to obtain data | A prescription refill is not equivalent to ingestion of medication; requires a closed pharmacy system |
| Assessment of the patient’s clinical response | Simple; easy to perform | Factors other than medication adherence can affect clinical response |
| Electronic medication monitors | Precise; results are easily quantified; tracks patterns of taking medication | Expensive for example, MEMs; some requires return visits |
| Measurement of physiologic markers | Often easy to perform | Marker may be absent for other reasons |
| Patient diaries | Help to correct for poor recall | Easily altered by the patient |
| Questionnaire for caregiver, for patients who are cognitively impaired. | Help to correct for poor recall; simple; objective | Susceptible to error and distortion |
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