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Nonadherence to medication is a common issue that goes along with increased morbidity and mortality and immense health care costs. To improve medication adherence and outcome in ill people, their reasons of not taking their prescribed medication must be known. Here a dataset is presented based on the longitudinal observational NeuroGerAd study in adults with neurological disorders (N = 910). The dataset contains demographic background variables as well as measures of adherence, medication changes after hospital discharge, comprehensive geriatric assessments, personality, patient-physician relationship, and health-related quality of life. As such, the dataset offers unique opportunities to enable a plethora of analyses on personal, social, and institutional factors influencing medication adherence.

Following stroke, many patients suffer from chronic motor impairment and reduced somatosensation in the stroke-affected body parts. Recent experimental studies suggest that temporary functional deafferentation (TFD) of parts of the stroke-affected upper limb or of the less-affected contralateral limb might improve the sensorimotor capacity of the stroke-affected hand. The present study sought evidence of cortical reorganization and related sensory and motor improvements following pharmacologically induced TFD of the stroke-affected forearm.Examination was performed during 2 d of Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy. Thirty-six human patients were deafferented on the stroke-affected forearm by an anesthetic cream (containing lidocaine and prilocaine) on one of the 2 d, and a placebo cream was applied on the other. The order of TFD and placebo treatment was counterbalanced across patients. Somatosensory and motor performance were assessed using a Grating orienting task and a Shape-sorter-drum task, and with somatosensory-evoked magnetic fields. Evoked magnetic fields showed significant pre- to postevaluation magnitude increases in response to tactile stimulation of the thumb of the stroke-affected hand during TFD but not following placebo treatment. We also observed a rapid extension of the distance between cortical representations of the stroke-affected thumb and little finger following TFD but not following placebo treatment. Moreover, somatosensory and motor performance of the stroke-affected hand was significantly enhanced during TFD but not during placebo treatment. Thus, pharmacologically induced TFD of a stroke-affected forearm might improve the somatosensory and motor functions of the stroke-affected upper limb, accompanied by cortical plasticity.

Background and Purpose— Reduced somatosensation is a common impairment after stroke. This somatosensory deficit is known to be a reliable predictor of poor rehabilitation outcome. Several methods of physical therapy have addressed this problem, but with only moderate success. Here, we used a new neural plasticity-based approach, ie, a simple, inexpensive, pharmacologically induced temporary functional deafferentation (TFD) of the forearm to investigate whether TFD might result in beneficial effects on the somatosensory sensibility and motor capacity of the stroke-affected hand. Methods— Examination was performed over 2 consecutive days of an efficient rehabilitation program for stroke patients referred to as constraint-induced movement therapy. Patients were deafferented on one of these days but not on the other (placebo session). The order of deafferentation and nondeafferentation was counterbalanced across patients. TFD of the stroke-affected forearm was realized using an anesthetic cream. Somatosensory abilities were assessed by a Grating orienting task, and a shape-sorter drum task was used to test motor performance. Both tests were performed each day before and after the constraint-induced movement therapy training session. Results— We found significantly better outcomes for Grating orienting task and shape-sorter drum task after TFD on the forearm as compared to placebo, indicating increased somatosensory abilities and motor performance in stroke patients using the simple TFD procedure. Conclusions— The improvement was achieved during the course of one of the best established poststroke rehabilitation programs, suggesting that TFD on the more affected forearm might become an efficient additional tool in stroke rehabilitation.