Medication adherence has always been a problem among elderly patients. As the elderly have multiple comorbidities, use polypharmacy, they present with higher risk of non adherence to medications compared to the younger population. Factors such as age, gender, socioeconomic status and level of disease severity, complexity of prescribed medications, social acceptance, poor patient related relationships, cost, forgetfulness and presence of psychological problems have all been shown to affect the adherence in various populations. Improving on the areas of patient education and medication counselling, simplifying prescriptions could help in improving adherence.

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Dr Neelima.K.Rajan

Pharm D Intern, St. James Hospital, India