A 70% Adherence Threshold Was Not Proof That Every CBD Dose Was Taken
The trial’s high treatment-completion figure used a defined adherence threshold. It did not mean every participant swallowed every scheduled CBD capsule.
Completion had an operational definition
The report describes 94% of participants completing treatment under criteria that included at least 70% medication compliance each treatment week and attendance within two days of scheduled visits. Compliance was assessed through self-report and returned medication. Participants also received dosing reminders and weekly dosette boxes.
The measures supported adherence without proving ingestion
Returned capsules can identify medication not taken, while self-report provides another account of use. Neither independently documents the swallowing time of every missing capsule. The completion percentage should therefore retain the study’s threshold rather than being rewritten as 94% perfect dosing.
Exposure and treatment assignment remain separate
Assigned daily CBD dose described the randomized intervention. Actual administration could vary within the completion rule. This matters when connecting a treatment outcome to a particular cumulative exposure or an individual plasma measurement. The high retention supports feasibility under structured trial support; it does not establish equivalent adherence for an unsupervised retail product. Nor should an adherence threshold be treated as a biological concentration cutoff or a clinical instruction to miss doses.
Related analysis: the trial’s main results and limitations.
