Background The tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), imatinib, dasatinib and nilotinib, have brought about a paradigm change in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). Previously, patients had a median survival of 3–5 years, while now it is a chronic disease with life expectation comparable with that of the general population. Adherence to treatment in these patients is an important part of success.

Purpose To determine the adherence rate of patients diagnosed with CML and treated with TKI in our hospital.

Material and methods Observational study from June 2012 to June 2015. We evaluated adherence using two different methods: interview between the patient and pharmacist using the Morisky-Green questionnaire, standardised for multiple chronic diseases; and counting of dispensing drugs. This is possible because, in our country, TKI are only dispensed in hospital pharmacy departments.

Patients were considered adherent if they obtained a score ≥90% on both methods.

Results 21 patients met the criteria to be diagnosed with CML and were also treated with TKI in our hospital during the study period. The average days of treatment was 497 (median 551 days). Results from both methods coincided: the percentage of adherent patients (score ≥90%) was 81% (18 patients). Agreement between these two methods was 100%. For non-adherent patients, compliance rate in no event was <70%, and failure reasons were related to forgetfulness (2/3) and lifestyle (1/3).

Conclusion The results of this pilot study in our hospital were satisfactory. Early detection of non-adherent patients is vital to achieve adherence rates of 100% and minimise the response variability to TKI due to non-adherence.

References and/or Acknowledgements The patients and physicians.

No conflict of interest.