Medications are used as the primary approach to prevent and effectively manage the chronic conditions. Non-adherence to medication is recognized as a worldwide public health problem with important implications for the management of chronic diseases, which affects every level of the population, particularly older adults due to the high number of coexisting diseases and consequent polypharmacy. Estimated rates of adherence to long-term medication regimen are of about 50%, and there is no evidence for significant changes in the past 50 years. The consequences of non-adherence include poor clinical outcomes, increased morbidity and mortality and unnecessary healthcare costs. Factors contributing to non-adherence are multifaceted and embrace those that are related to patients, to physicians and to healthcare systems. Cognitive, sensorial and functional decline, poor social support, anxiety, depression symptomatology and reduced health literacy have been linked to medication non-adherence in the elderly patients. Many interventions to improve medication adherence have been described in the study for different clinical conditions; however, most interventions seem to fail in their aims. In this chapter, a revision of the implications of poor adherence as well as its predictors and available tools to improve adherence is performed.
Part of the book: Gerontology