Variety of reasons medicine not taken, a survey of seniors says

A new Medicare drug law can go only so far toward encouraging adherence to a medication regimen.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. May 9, 2005.

Washington -- Cost isn't the only reason elderly patients don't take all the drugs prescribed to them, say the authors of a large survey of Medicare beneficiaries.

Seniors were about as likely to cite a drug's side effects or their beliefs that the medications weren't effective as they were to cite high cost, according to findings published online April 19 in Health Affairs.

Physicians could find that the new prescription drug benefit for Medicare, which goes into effect next year, will go only so far toward ensuring that patients follow their medication regimen because, the new survey found, it's not just about the money.

About 25% of the 17,685 Medicare recipients who responded to the survey via mail and telephone said they had skipped doses or stopped taking a drug because it made them feel worse or it wasn't helping, and 26% said they had not filled a prescription, had skipped doses or had taken smaller doses because of cost.

In addition, about 15% of respondents said they thought they didn't need the medicines or they were taking too many drugs. Many of the responses overlapped.

It was surprising to find there are reasons beyond cost that lead people to stray from their prescription drug regimens, said lead researcher Dana Gelb Safran, ScD, director of the Health Institute at Tufts-New England Medical Center. "And these reasons need to be addressed in the doctor-patient encounter.

"The findings told us in part that while the new law could be very helpful in addressing issues of non-adherence, it's not going to take us the whole distance. There are other very important reasons that people don't adhere to their prescription regimen other than cost," Dr. Safran said.