The Effect on Treatment Adherence of Administering Drugs as Fixed-Dose Combinations versus as Separate Pills: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 1

Characteristics of included studies.

Study		Medical condition	Country	FDC arm	Separate pills arm	Duration of follow-up	Adherence assessment method
Eron et al., 2000 [15]	223	HIV infection	USA	FCD of lamivudine and zidovudine in combination with a PI	Separate lamivudine, zidovudine, and a PI	4 months	Self-reported adherence
Sosa et al., 2005 [16]	236	HIV infection	USA, Panama, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico	Once daily FDC of abacavir and lamivudine in combination with a PI or NNRTI	Twice daily separate abacavir and lamivudine in combination with a PI or NNRTI	12 months	Pill count
Geiter et al., 1987 [17]	538	Pulmonary tuberculosis	USA	FDC of isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide for 2 months followed by FDC of isoniazid and rifampin for 4 months	Separate isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide for 2 months followed by separate isoniazid and rifampin for 4 months	6 months	Self-reported adherence, pill count, and appointment keeping
Su and Perng, 2002 [18]	105	Pulmonary tuberculosis	Taiwan	FDC of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol for 2 months, followed by FDC of isoniazid and rifampicin for 4 months	Separate isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol for 2 months, followed by separate isoniazid and rifampicin for 4 months	12 months	Adherence with clinic visits
RCTAI, 1989 [19]	196	Pulmonary tuberculosis	India	FDC of isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide for 8 weeks followed by FDC of isoniazid and rifampin for 18 weeks	Separate isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide for 8 weeks followed by separate of isoniazid and rifampin for 18 weeks	26 weeks	Home based pill counts
Asplund et al., 1984 [20]	160	Hypertension	Sweden	FDC of pindolol and clopamide	Separate pindolol and clopamide	8 months	Pill count