60% of patients interrupts her treatment of the mainly because of financial problemsaccording to the results of European studies conducted from 2012 to 2024 and presented at the 11th Panhellenic Congress of Applied Pharmaceuticals (PSEF), organized by the Thessaloniki Pharmaceutical Association.

The same studies show that the 55% of pharmacist and 37% of physician they consider patients’ non -compliance in treatments is serious problem. However, 8.33% of doctors ignore the importance of the subject.

By presenting the results of the studies, during a speech on the topic “The patient’s five -fold compliance with the treatment and the key role of the pharmacy”, As part of the 11th PSEF, Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry – Pharmacist, President of the Department of Pharmaceuticals of the University of Patras, Sotirios Nikolaropoulos, said that, according to the same research,, according to the same research, the Department of Pharmacy over 70% of doctors and of their pharmacist he thinks that the health systems are severely affected by the non -compliance of patients. Both doctors and pharmacists, in percentage that exceeds 60%agree that the instructions of doctors are often not understood by patients.

In terms of long -term treatments55% of pharmacists and 46% of doctors consider vital for the quality of life The patient is observing the treatment and the right instructions given by the treating physician, while 25% of doctors believe that the patient is responsible.

“Failure to detect and restore patients of patients often leads to more intensified pharmacotherapy, with more doses of drugs, thereby increasing the overall cost of treatment as well as the risk of further problems. However, apart from obvious expenses, patients’ non -compliance can lead to complications in the patient and physician relationship, incorrect diagnoses and, in more extreme cases, unnecessary treatment, deterioration of the disease or even death » Mr. Nikolaropoulos pointed out.

According to him, inadequate compliance is a real threat to the health of the population and must be addressed to reduce the gap between preventing and real problems. For these reasons, he suggested:

  • Addressing unwanted actions related to therapeutic regimens: Informing patients about what to expect about their treatment and how to deal with any side effects. Patients should also be informed of the consequences of not taking treatment.
  • The therapeutic regimen should be clear and as simple as possible. The plan can be modified and adapted to the patient’s needs.
  • It must be ensured that appropriate exams will be conducted per appropriate intervals in order to be proof of the effectiveness of treatment, but also a strong motivation to continue.
  • A multifactorial model Including health professionals and trainees (doctors, pharmacists, nurses) could provide the best opportunities to improve monitoring and achieving treatment for the patient.
  • Creation of one organization to monitor the compliance of patients in therapies as well as the cost ratio.
  • Medical computer scienceelectronic health folder, telemedicine and telemedicing patients.

The factors affecting patient compliance

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the patient’s compliance is one multifactorial phenomenon identified by five dimensions:

  1. Factors concerning the health system: Inadequate organization of health systems, inability to provide/distribute drugs, lack of knowledge-education of health scientists, inability to train/monitor patients, inadequate Community support programs.
  2. Socio -economic agents: Poverty, low educational/standard of living, unemployment, lack of social support networks, distance from therapeutic centers, high medication costs, cultural beliefs in relation to illness/treatment, family problems, race.
  3. Factors concerning treatment: Complexity of therapeutic program, duration of treatment, previous failed therapies, frequency of therapeutic changes, time of improving symptoms after initiation of treatment, side effects and health system to deal with them.
  4. Individual agents of the patient: Age, cognitive level, financial status, beliefs/behaviors, perceptions/expectations of the patient for treatment.
  5. Factors affected by the condition itself: Severity of symptoms, level of disability (physical, mental), degree of disease improvement, effective treatment availability.

As Mr. Nikolaropoulos, a recent report, pointed out that the size of non -compliance with instructions by them patients are so so worryingso that more benefits for the world health They will result from improving compliance with existing treatments rather than the development of new medical therapies.

In terms of cost savings from compliance with medical instructions, it is estimated that for each additional euro spent on a faithful medication, the medical costs decrease by 7 euros for the people with diabetes mellitus; 5 euros for people with high cholesterol, 4 euros for people with high blood pressure.