A novel EHR-based marker can identify transplant patients at high risk of organ rejection from medication nonadherence, researchers from New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System and Houston-based Texas Children’s found.
The multicenter randomized controlled trial, published June 15 in the American Journal of Transplantation, evaluated the Medication Level Variability Index, an objective marker derived from routine immunosuppressant blood levels, to flag adolescents and young adults at elevated risk after liver transplantation.
“What this study shows is that we can identify patients who are not taking their medications as prescribed using data we already have in the electronic health record — and act before serious complications occur,” said principal investigator Eyal Shemesh, MD, chief of behavioral and developmental health at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital, in a June 15 news release.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
