ESPACOMP Medication Adherence Reporting Guideline (EMERGE)
Open accessAbstract
Research on assessing or managing medication adherence applies approaches from observational, interventional, and implementation science that spans many disciplines and demands coherent conceptualization, valid methods, appropriate analyses, and complete and accurate reporting. To ensure such reporting, the European Society for Patient Adherence, COMpliance, and Persistence (ESPACOMP) Medication Adherence Reporting Guideline (EMERGE) recommends standard reporting approaches based on an accepted taxonomy. This guideline is derived from a literature review, a reactive Delphi study with 26 medication adherence experts from many countries and disciplines, and feedback from ESPACOMP members. It is designed to supplement existing guidelines for health research reporting and is structured around 4 minimum reporting criteria and 17 items reflecting best reporting practice. By enhancing and harmonizing research reporting, EMERGE aims to advance research and, ultimately, patient outcomes.
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The review used a methodologically rigorous approach informed by standardized adherence metrics.
“Lastly, we used a methodologically rigorous approach informed by standardized adherence metrics,3,4 conducted quality assessments via JBI critical appraisal checklist,19 and restricted the meta-analyses to fully reported studies, with sensitivity analyses to ensure robustness.”
From Adherence to PCSK9 Inhibitors in Clinical Practice (2026) · cites this paper as [3]
The EMERGE discussion (page not provided) describes a standardized adherence taxonomy and reporting criteria for defining and measuring adherence phases. That supports using a consistent framework, but it does not establish that the citing review used standardized adherence metrics or that its overall approach was methodologically rigorous. (LLM, conf=0.80)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredEncountered inconsistencies represent a common challenge in adherence-related research.
“These encountered inconsistencies represent a common challenge in adherence-related research.3”
From Adherence to PCSK9 Inhibitors in Clinical Practice (2026) · cites this paper as [3]
Commonly used adherence metrics such as MPR and PDC can yield different results for the same population.
“Even commonly used adherence metrics such as MPR and PDC can yield different results for the same population.”
From Adherence to PCSK9 Inhibitors in Clinical Practice (2026) · cites this paper as [3]
The indexed section on improving medication-adherence research reporting discusses inconsistent definitions and inadequate measurement, but does not address whether MPR and PDC yield different results in the same population. Searches for “MPR,” “PDC,” and their expanded names found no passage making that comparison; the available passages have no page labels. (LLM, conf=0.73)
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Cites
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CONSORT 2010 statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomized trials
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“(16) 59 Previous efforts to improve adherence research reporting standards(11, 17-20), have resulted in 60 guidelines and recommendations that overlap with existing health research reporting guidelines, 61 e.g., CONsolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT),(21) STrengthening the Reporting of 62 OBservational s…”
BackgroundInterventions for enhancing medication adherence
Nieuwlaat, R., Wilczynski, N., Navarro, T., Hobson, N., Jeffery, R., Keepanasseril, A., Agoritsas, T., Mistry, N., Iorio, A., Jack, S., et al. (2014) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd000011.pub4 · Cited by 2,945 · cited 3× · see citing works
“EMERGE was developed to help researchers improve the often methodologically weak (8, 35, 36) and suboptimum reporting of medication adherence research (11–13).”
BackgroundAdherence to Long‐Term Therapies: Evidence for Action
Burkhart, P. V., & Sabaté, E. (2003) · Journal of Nursing Scholarship · doi:10.1111/j.1547-5069.2003.tb00001.x · Cited by 2,526 · see citing works
A new taxonomy for describing and defining adherence to medications
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Self-citationA meta-analysis of the association between adherence to drug therapy and mortality
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“(1-4) For many conditions, taking medications as prescribed is crucial to 49 achieve optimal outcomes.(5-7) Despite more than 50 years of research, the evidence base for 50 effective interventions that can be implemented in routine clinical care remains limited.”
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Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 7
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Cited by
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Adherence to PCSK9 Inhibitors in Clinical Practice
Blais, J. E., Zhong, W., Li, C. Y. V., Kongkaew, C., & Chan, A. H. Y. (2026) · JACC: Advances · doi:10.1016/j.jacadv.2026.102733 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
- Authors
- De Geest, S., Zullig, L. L., Dunbar-Jacob, J., Helmy, R., Hughes, D. A., Wilson, I. B., & Vrijens, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, and Academic Centre for Nursing and Midwifery, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (S.D.)
- Duke University (US)
- University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (J.D.)
- University of Basel (CH)
- Bangor University (GB)
- Brown University (US)
- University of Liège (BE)
- Venue
- Annals of Internal Medicine
- Publisher
- American College of Physicians
- Published
- 2018-07-03
- Volume
- 169
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 30-35
- ISSN
- 0003-4819 (ISSN-L)
- 1539-3704
- PMC
- PMC7643841
- OpenAlex
- W2811496043
- Cited by
- 360
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 60 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 3 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 42.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Annals of Internal Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Bangor University Research Portal (Bangor University) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- edoc (University of Basel) (submittedVersion)
- Lirias (KU Leuven) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (IK2 HX001345)
- Medical Research Council (MR/K025635/1)
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U54GM115677)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (P30AI042853)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Medication Adherence and Compliance
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Emergency Medical Services › Patient Safety and Medication Errors
- Keywords
- medication adherence, reporting guidelines, eMERGE, reporting quality, adherence measurement
- MeSH terms
- Assessment of Medication Adherence, Classification, Delphi Technique, Humans, Publications, Research Design, Drug Monitoring, Biomedical Research, Medication Adherence
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