What happens when seniors forget their meds?

Taking a medication at the right time and in the right dosage has more to it than it seems. And the consequences of not doing so go far beyond what one could imagine. In the US, half of people are not taking their meds as prescribed, which results in health complications and higher costs for the healthcare system. This issue has been particularly discussed with regards to the senior population, where the prevalence of chronic conditions is higher and, by consequence, so is the number of pills too. Indeed, seniors take many pills. But what happens when they forget about it?

This is a first post of a series where we will explore what are the health risks, the human costs and the healthcare system costs when an elder forgets to take his / her pills. But first, let’s understand how big of a problem this is.

Non-adherence is striking among seniors

According to the National Council on Aging, 80% of the more than 43 million people aged 65 or more in the US have at least one chronic disease, and 77% have at least two. Among the most common ones, we can find diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and kidney problems, which are all conditions that require complex medication regimes and that are more likely to be diagnosed in the elderly. Researchers estimate that at around 81% of older adults are taking at least one prescription drug a day, and 30% are taking 5 or more. And seniors are more likely to get more and more prescriptions as they age: according to the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, Americans aged 65+ are currently receiving over 27 prescriptions for new drugs every year.

Patients taking many drugs, including and especially the older adults, are more likely to make medication errors or to be non-adherent to their treatment. PharmacyTimes reports that, on average, the adherence levels decrease from 80% to 50% among patients taking medications four or more times a day.

The numbers are clear: 80% of the senior population in the USA have to take chronic medication. And, along the way, their regimens become more complex and more prone to errors. Stay tuned for the next post, where we’ll explore what are the human costs and risks of that errors.

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