Introduction:

Adherence to immunosuppressive treatment in renal transplant patients is a crucial factor for graft survival and the quality of life of these patients.

Objective:

To analyze the therapeutic adherence of renal transplant patients and its relationship with the plasma level of immunosuppressants.

Material and Method:

An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted on a population of renal transplant recipients between December 2021 and January 2022 at the Nephrology Department of Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital. The simplified medication adherence questionnaire (SMAQ) was used to determine adherence to immunosuppressive treatment. Other socio-clinical variables were collected, including age, gender, time since the last transplant, previous renal transplants, type of transplant (renal or combined), underlying nephropathy, blood levels of immunosuppressants, prescribed immunosuppressant, and the total number of prescribed medications. For patients on tacrolimus and mTOR inhibitors, the levels of the last five laboratory tests were recorded, and the standard deviation and coefficient of variability were calculated.

Results:

A total of 100 patients were studied: 7% had combined kidney-pancreas transplants, 92% used tacrolimus as the main immunosuppressant, and 29% were non-adherent (with no gender differences). No statistically significant differences were found between blood levels of immunosuppressants and adherence to immunosuppressive treatment, either overall or in subgroups.

Conclusions:

The non-adherence rate in our sample is 29%. We did not find a statistically significant association between blood levels of immunosuppressants and treatment adherence.