July 29, 2007
Disturbing Statistics
Revealing Statistics
The following statistics illustrate how widespread noncompliance really is among Americans: Only 55 percent of tuberculosis patients, 48 percent of diabetics, 46 percent of asthmatics, and 42 percent of glaucoma patients use their medicines correctly.
From 14 to 21 percent of patients never even fill their original prescriptions.
10 percent of adolescent pregnancies result from non-compliance with birth control medication.
60 percent of all patients cannot identify their own medicines.
From 30 percent to 50 percent of all patients ignore or otherwise compromise instructions on how to take medication.
Nearly one-fourth (23 percent) of nursing home admissions are related to improper self-administration of medicine.
From 12 percent to 20 percent of patients take other people’s medicines.
The cost of hospital admissions is an estimated $8.5 billion annually just for patients who do not take their medications as prescribed.
(Sources: The Food and Drug Administration and The National Council on Patient Information and Education)
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