Compliance to supervised disulfiram therapy: A comparison of voluntary and court-ordered patients

We hypothesized that court mandate would significantly enhance compliance with supervised disulfiram therapy. We conducted a twelve-week prospective study of outpatient compliance with court-ordered, monitored disulfiram treatment as compared to voluntary, monitored treatment. The court ordered group (n = 19) was significantly more compliant than the voluntary group (n = 22). Legally mandated subjects attended an average of 87% (+/- 21%) of scheduled visits, versus 42% (+/- 35%) for the group without court order. Court mandate roughly doubles the compliance rate of monitored disulfiram therapy, effectively enhancing clinic attendance during the first twelve weeks of treatment.