Patient non-compliance: Dangerous and costly

Yoly R., a 58-year-old housewife, has been treated for diabetes for more than 10 years. She took her medicines erratically, resulting in poor blood sugar control. Recently, her left leg had to be amputated because of gangrene.

There are many patients who do not adhere to their doctors’ instructions on how to take their medicines properly, in terms of dose and frequency required by their illness. This is particularly true for medicines that have to be taken for chronic diseases such as diabetes, tuberculosis, asthma, high blood pressure and cholesterol problems. The main reason for their non-compliance is financial; they simply cannot afford to sustain their treatment.

What they do not realize is that medication non-compliance or the failure to take drugs on time and in the prescribed dosage, could lead to serious complications which can be more dangerous and more costly as the illness itself.

Unsuccessful treatment is the most logical result of non-compliance. Worse, it could even lead to death of patients. In the United States, more than a million patients die each year due to chronic illnesses because of non-compliance.

For chronic diseases, the key toward a successful treatment is patient compliance. Even the best treatment plan fails without patient compliance.

Studies show that only about 50 percent of patients who consult their doctors take their drug as directed. Although experts say that this may be the result of the patient’s forgetfulness or complex dosaging of drugs prescribed, the cost of medication proves to be still the major barrier to patient compliance.

If only patients comply with their medications, physician visits, diagnostic tests and other unnecessary treatment could be avoided.

Other unfavorable results of non-compliance include worsening of quality of life and additional burden on the pocket. For example, poor compliance in taking prescribed drugs for diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol problems and chronic lung diseases could lead to more serious complications which will make treating the patient more expensive in the long run.

There are many ways to improve patient compliance. Studies show that it is crucial for the patient to have a good relationship with his physician. In this way, patients could entrust his fears, expectations and cost-concerns to their physicians. Physicians can prescribe the most suitable and reasonably priced medications for better compliance.

For an average Filipino worker, cost of medication is one of the major obstacles to patient compliance. Pharmacoeconomics is intended to address this problem. In the Philippines, the concept of pharmacoeconomics, which aims to deliver high-quality and affordable medicines, is slowly gaining popularity.

The underlying principle of pharmacoeconomics is to reduce healthcare cost specifically for patients with chronic diseases. While cutting on cost, it takes into consideration the drug’s efficacy in treating the medical condition for which it was prescribed.

In pharmacoeconomics, the price of a drug does not show its real cost. A brand of medicine marketed at a lower price but is not effective may cause additional expenses in terms of hospitalization. The complications which may arise from the use of an ineffective drug will also result in the diminished income and productivity of a patient.

The idea of pharmacoeconomics is to help the patient in being able to afford his medicines so he can take his drug for a longer period of time or for as long as it is necessary to treat his medical problems.

Pharmacoeconomics offers an alternative to the more expensive drugs, with the goal of making sure that the medicine is taken by the patient strictly according to their doctors’ prescription.

Choosing drugs which are therapeutic equivalents is of increasing concern, especially now that chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol problems, tuberculosis and asthma have reached epidemic proportions. Through pharmacoeconomics, clinicians and patients have an affordable treatment option which is proven to be safe, effective and bioequivalent to the originator product.

The various divisions of Unilab, a leading pharmaceutical company in the country, is committed to helping improve healthcare delivery to the average Filipino family by providing them with high-quality and affordable medicines for common medical problems.