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Many Patients Quit Medicine Too Early
Patient: "No. I'm not allergic to anything."
Doctor: "Okey dokey."
  An assortment of prescription drugs are seen at a Portland, Maine, pharmacy on Friday, May 12, 2000. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach, FILE) (Pat Wellenbach - AP) Save & Share |
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Study co-author Dr. Derjung Tarn of the University of California, Los Angeles, said, "We need to find quick and easy ways to communicate in ways patients can easily understand and remember."
The research suggests that patients and their doctors must work harder, said Dr. Patrick O'Connor of HealthPartners Research Foundation in Minneapolis, who wrote an editorial in the journal.
"Patients need to ask, 'What are the most important medicines in my treatment, the ones that will help me live long enough to see my grandchildren grow up?'" O'Connor said.
Doctors, he said, need to tell patients more about the drugs they prescribe and then follow up with them.
"You think they know what a statin is from watching television, but they don't know that Lipitor is a statin or that Zocor is a statin," O'Connor said of doctors.
He also said that if a patient is taking six different pills, doctors should give advice about which ones to stop if the cost gets too high.
Some patients assume they quit their pills if the doctor says their cholesterol looks good, said Dr. Kim Eagle of the University of Michigan.
"Generally, these medications need to be continued to have their benefit," he said of drugs that fight heart disease. But many factors, he said, conspire against regular drug-taking: cost, side effects, depression, carelessness and a desire not to be someone who takes a lot of pills.
In a study of 13,835 Medicare enrollees, 29 percent of disabled people and 13 percent of the elderly reported they had skipped doses or hadn't filled a prescription because of cost. That research was done before the new Medicare drug benefit took effect and the researchers recommend more study to see what effect the new benefit might have.
One issue arising recently and causing concern among health advocates is the coverage gap in the Medicare drug benefit, which leaves the elderly and disabled paying thousands of dollars out of pocket after their drug costs reach $2,250.
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