Girish Hiremath, MD, MPH: Accurately Tracking Pediatric Compliance to EoE Therapies

A recent study presented at the annual American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) 2020 found a negative correlation between self-reported compliance to eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) therapies and active EoE.

Additionally, the investigators found that within their study population, the median self-reported compliance was 100%.

In an interview with HCPLive®, lead investigator Girish Hiremath, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, emphasized the importance of achieving maximal medication adherence. Furthermore, he acknowledged the potential to improve upon the study’s methodology.

“In future studies, we will be focused on how to track this compliance,” he said. “That will be super important.”

He noted that the current methodology of self-reporting can be subject to certain limitations such as recall bias or other biases. Thus, there is a need to develop more objective measures to track compliance among this population.

According to Hiremath, other plans for future research include using a larger dataset and determining the difference between individual therapeutic options—such as pump inhibitors (PPI) or topical corticosteroids (TCS).

Nonetheless he stressed that in spite of these limitations, the study’s results prove to be encouraging.

He noted that he and his team are currently in the process of conducting the study with a larger sample size, but continued to stress that a more objective compliance measure is still an area that requires further development.

"I think that's where the physicians can come together and work," he said.