Malaria is a disease that threatens 50% of the world population living in endemic areas such as Africa, Asia and Latin America. Concerning malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax in Brazil, which treatment is based on primaquine and chloroquine, it is a major public health issue that hinders the development of the Amazon region and adherence to drug therapy is one of the main factors that influence the effectiveness of the drug. This study uses indirect methods assess treatment adherence, correlating it with plasma concentrations of primaquine and carboxyprimaquine. Thus, a cross-sectional observational controlled study was conducted with 27 patients in Anajás, Pará before (D0), during (D1) and after (D7) treatment using the antimalarials, followed by the assessment of the patients with questions based on Morisky-Green test at the end of the treatment. Higher prevalence of vivax malaria was observed in males (70.4%) and age group of 20-39 years (55.56%), Morisky-Green test indicated adherence of 75%, 15 out of 20 patients, with hit rates of 80%, 65%, 70% and 65% to the questions. Mean-value of primaquine concentration on D1 was 134.8 ng/mL, and 131.9 ng/mL on D7, values for carboxyprimaquine are 408 ng/ml and 529.4 ng/mL respectively. It is possible to observe a statistically significant difference in the carboxyprimaquine values between D1 and D7 in the acceding group defined by the Morisky-Green tests, showing that carboxyprimaquine accumulates in the body; therefore being more suitable for assessing adherence to treatment. Therefore, it is important to point out these concentrations of primaquine and carboxyprimaquine consist as the first determination study of drugs and metabolites found for the short-course treatment suggested by the Ministry of Health for vivax malaria in the Amazon region, supporting the studies of adherence surveys regarding antimalarials.
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