The relationship between drug therapy noncompliance and patient characteristics, health-related quality of life, and health care costs

The objectives of this study were to determine the relationship between dru g therapy compliance and risk of hospitalization and economic outcomes, and to identify potential indicators of compliance. We used computerized presc ription records from 1054 patients at high risk for drug-related problems. We calculated a compliance ratio for a 12-month period and correlated it wi th health care use, demographic variables, drug-related variables, and scor es for health-related quality of life. Univariate results suggested that in creased age (p=0.05), high number of chronic conditions (p<0.001), and high number of concurrent drugs (p<0.001) were positively correlated with compl iance. That is, increased values for these variables were associated with b etter compliance. Using logistic regression, the odds of being noncompliant was 0.665 as the number of chronic conditions increased. Compliance was no t a predictor of concurrent or future hospitalizations or mortality, nor wa s it a significant predictor of health care costs.