NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - May 25, 2011) - Whether or not patients take their medications consistently may be more of a function of the patient than the condition or specific treatment regimen, according to new findings from the National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS), conducted by Kantar Health and presented today at the 16th Annual International Meeting for ISPOR (International Society for Pharmacoeconomic and Outcomes Research) in Baltimore. Patients who are non-adherent to their treatments have worse quality of life and use more healthcare resources.
"Medication adherence, which measures to what extent a patient takes their medication as directed, is such an important part of disease management," says Marco DiBonaventura, Ph.D., Director, Health Economics and Outcomes Research at Kantar Health. "Although many researchers have looked at adherence patterns within a given condition, our results suggest that adherence might need to be looked at within an individual."
Examining the costliest chronic conditions (including diabetes, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), Kantar Health found that US patients who were non-adherent with medications for one of their chronic conditions were highly likely to be non-adherent with their other chronic conditions. Similarly, patients who were adherent with one of their chronic conditions were highly likely to be adherent with their other chronic conditions.
"These results suggest that adherence may have less to do with the specific condition and treatment regimen and more to do with the patient," Dr. DiBonaventura says. "As a result, non-adherence with a newly diagnosed condition may be predicted from whether the patient is currently forgetting their medications or skipping doses with their other chronic conditions. We also found that non-adherence was associated with worse health outcomes. Better management of the underlying cause of a patient's non-adherence may have an enormous benefit."
Adherence was assessed using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, a self-report measure of medication-taking behavior. Visit Kantar Health's website to download the full poster, "Adherence Is Adherence Is Adherence."
About the National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS)
The study's results were drawn from the 2010 US NHWS, a nationally representative, self-administered survey conducted annually via the Internet. Topics covered include the health status, attitudes, behaviors and outcomes among adults 18 or older.
Kantar Health conducts NHWS annually in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America. The survey is the largest self-reported database in the healthcare industry.
About Kantar Health (www.kantarhealth.com)
As experts in pharmaceutical and biotechnology consulting and market research, Kantar Health offers unique insights and products that deliver proven results for marketing insights, brand marketing, business development and health economics and outcomes professionals, including:
- The greatest breadth and depth of epidemiology information in the world, spanning patient-reported outcomes and patient care by country, therapy area, specialist -- or whatever combination of data you require
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Kantar Health's team combines doctorate-level scientific expertise with strong business know-how, ensuring that solutions are both evidence-based and commercially focused. By uniting industry leaders MattsonJack, TNS Healthcare, Consumer Health Sciences and Ziment, we offer a wide range of expertise in emerging as well as established markets, spanning the product life cycle from product portfolio management to licensing, market access to brand and reputation management, detailing to clinical research, patient outcomes and sales force effectiveness to health and safety. And as part of WPP, the largest marketing agency in the world, Kantar Health can leverage the power of the global group with shared offline and online research methodologies but remain culturally specific and nimble. Kantar Health focuses on getting you the best return.