COMPLIANCE WITH PULMONARY MEDICATION IN GENERAL-PRACTICE

We wanted to assess compliance with regular pulmonary medication, in 1 56 patients in a general practice setting. Patients completed a questi onnaire on their reported daily intake, the perceived prescription, an d their self-assessed perceived compliance with pulmonary medication. Compliance was defined as a reported daily intake greater-than-or-equa l-to 50% of the prescribed amount. Using this definition, 30% of patie nts were considered to be compliant. Compliant patients had daily symp toms more often, were more often prescribed two or more different medi cations, and a greater proportion of them had at some time consulted a chest physician. When patients- correctly perceived the prescription to refer to medication which had to be taken on a regular basis, they were more likely to be compliant. We conclude that, since less than on e third of patients was compliant with medication, more efforts are ne eded to improve compliance in general practice. Non-compliance with me dication may well provide an alternative explanation for the discrepan cy between prescribed medication and medical outcome, which has been l abelled in the literature as ''undertreatment''.