Patients tend not to follow their treatment, especially when they have serious pathologies. This non-compliance is believed to be the cause of 100,000 hospitalizations per year.
The French, champions of the paradox… In Europe, they are the main consumers of medicines, with an annual budget of 95 euros per person. But at the same time, once they come out of the pharmacy, they shun the pills that are supposed to cure them.
25% of drugs prescribed by doctors are never consumed by patients, according to a report by theJalma Observatory health financing in France. This non-observance is costing the population dearly. In addition to depleting her financial resources, she is responsible for thousands of deaths – 12,000 a year, according to the consulting firm.
AIDS, diabetes, transplant …
The more serious the pathologies and the risk of death, the less inclined patients seem to follow their treatment. These results confirm those of a previous study, which found that many people would be willing to die younger rather than taking medication every day.
Thus, only 64% of people with AIDS take their triple therapy seriously. The same goes for kidney transplant recipients, whose treatment should allow the transplant to survive. They would only be 66% to ingest their tablets daily. Another reason for concern: a third (35%) of diabetics do not comply with their treatment. A proportion which climbs to 45% for those who suffer from osteoporosis and to 63% of gout.
Distrust, forgetfulness
Among the reasons for this non-compliance, the Jalma firm cites, jumbled up, forgetfulness, the growing age of patients, side effects of drugs, lack of conviction in the medical interest of the treatment, a bad relationship between the patient and the healthcare professional. Financial problems are also mentioned, especially for those who have insufficient insurance coverage.
In the end, “each year, 100,000 hospitalizations could be avoided thanks to better compliance in France”, note the authors of the report, who estimate the annual additional cost for the health system at 1 billion. In November, IMS Health had seen even bigger things. According to his calculations, including all the complications related to non-compliance, the bill would amount to 9 billion euros. A big mess.
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