A COMPARISON OF 6 MONTHS COMPLIANCE OF PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS TREATED WITH TENOXICAM AND NAPROXEN - USE OF PATIENT COMPUTER-DATA TO ASSESS RESPONSE TO TREATMENT

Objective. To assess longterm compliance in patients with rheumatoid a rthritis (RA) of 20 mg tenoxicam or 500-1000 mg naproxen taken daily a nd to evaluate patient computer data collection. Methods. Three hundre d and seven patients were treated in a double blind, randomized multic enter study for 6 months. The first 4 weeks of treatment data were col lected daily via patient operated computers in parallel with Standard assessments at weekly visits to the clinics. Results. Daily patient da ta collection was more sensitive than weekly clinical assessments. Six months' compliance was 62% for tenoxicam and 67% for naproxen with co mparable rates of withdrawal due to lack of efficacy or adverse drug e xperiences in both groups. The spectra of adverse drug events found we re very similar for both drugs but the rates were higher than in short term studies. Conclusion. Daily computer data collection by patients is superior to classical clinical evaluation in drug studies. The long term compliance of tenoxicam and naproxen art comparable when treating patients with RA.