Many patients who survive a heart attack don’t consistently take medications prescribed to prevent it from happening again, a large U.S. study suggests, writes Reuters Health. Researchers asked 7,425 patients how often they took all the drugs physicians prescribed shortly after their heart attack, and about 2,150 of them confessed to following doctors’ orders only some of the time. While each patient may have unique motivations for deciding whether or not to take medications, the authors found it’s not uncommon for people who skip doses or fail to fill prescriptions to do so because they misunderstand the role of pills in preventing another heart attack, fear side effects, or lack funds to pay for drugs. The authors reviewed drug compliance for heart attack patients treated at 216 U.S. hospitals between April 2010 and May 2012.
Report Finds Many Patients Skip Prescribed Drugs After Heart Attack
More from United StatesMore posts in United States »
- AHRQ Stats: Most and Least Likely Groups To Have Health Insurance
- Money/The Leapfrog Group Best Hospitals for Pediatrics
- Study Finds Non Profile and Government Hospitals Have Higher Commercially Negotiated Prices for Brain MRI Than For-Profit Hospitals
- Study Found Pregnancy-Related Deaths Spiked for Second Consecutive Year During COVID-19
- Rand/MedStar Health Research Highlights Ongoing Challenges Black People Face in Receiving Quality Health Care