Background: Use of appropriate cardioprotective medication is a cornerstone of cardiovascular disease prevention, but less-than-optimal patient adherence is common. Thus, strategies for improving adherence are recommended to adopt a multifaceted approach.

Objective: The objective of our study was to test a system comprising a biodegradable, ingestible sensor for direct measurement of medication ingestion in a group of patients at elevated cardiovascular risk attending a cardiac prevention and rehabilitation program.

Methods: In this prospective intervention trial in a single group of 21 patients running from April 2014 to June 2015, we measured adherence by self-report and adherence determined objectively by the system. The sensor emits a signal when it encounters the acidic environment of the stomach, detectable by an externally worn patch and linked software app. Longitudinal adherence data in the form of daily progress charts for sensed dosing events as compared with scheduled dosing are visible to patients on their tablet computer’s medication dosing app, thus providing patients with continuous medication adherence feedback. We sought feedback on patient acceptability by questionnaire assessment. Participants used the system for the 12-week period of their cardiac prevention and rehabilitation program.

Results: Only 1 patient at initial assessment and 1 patient at end-of-program assessment reported often missing medication. The remaining patients reported never missing medication or had missing data. Only 12 (57%) of patients overall achieved system-determined adherence of 80% or more, and 3 patients had scores below 40%. Participants reported high levels of acceptability.

Conclusions: This integrated system was well tolerated in a group of 21 patients over an appreciable time frame. Its ability to measure adherence reveals the sizeable disconnect between patient self-reported adherence and actual medication taking and has promising potential for clinical use as a tool to encourage better medication-taking behavior due to its ability to provide continuous patient-level feedback.