In a new study published online today by Clinical Therapeutics, researchers from Adheris, Inc., an inVentiv Health company, found that patients new to chronic disease medication face the greatest risk of medication discontinuation during the first 30 days of treatment—with rates of discontinuation ranging from 29.6% to 78.1%. Unlike most previous adherence studies, this robust study looked at the rate of discontinuation across multiple medication classes. A copy of this study can be found at http://www.clinicaltherapeutics.com/articles/2628_van.pdf.
Medication discontinuation among 2.17 million patients prescribed agents for asthma, glaucoma, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, breast cancer, and high cholesterol was measured over one year following the initial prescription. Patients considered new to therapy (naïve patients) included both newly diagnosed patients and patients restarting treatment after a lapse of 6 or more months.