Did I, didn't I take my medicine?

Why People Forget to Take Their Medicine, and What Can Be Done About It

ScienceDaily (Apr. 5, 2010) — For many people, remembering to take a daily medication can be the difference between life and death. Yet, people forget all the time. Now a landmark study from North Carolina State University has found that changes in daily behavior have a significant effect on whether we remember to take our medication – and that these changes influence older and younger adults differently. That’s good news, because it means there’s something we can do about it.

“We’ve found that it is not just differences between people, but differences in what we do each day, that affect our ability to remember to take medication,” says Dr. Shevaun Neupert, an assistant professor of psychology at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research. “This is the first time anyone has looked at the effect daily changes in how busy we are affects our ability to remember medications. We also learned that these changes in daily behavior affect different age groups in different ways.

“For example, young people do the best job of remembering to take their medication on days when they are busier than usual,” Neupert says. “But older adults do a better job of remembering their medication on days when they are less busy.”

The researchers evaluated study participants who were on prescribed daily medications. The participants were divided into two groups: younger adults (between the ages of 18 and 20) and older adults (between the ages of 60 and 89).

For both age groups, the researchers found that participants were more likely to remember to take their medications on days when they performed better than usual on “cognition” tests – which evaluate memory and critical thinking.

“We found that cognition is an important factor in remembering medications,” Neupert says, “but that how busy we are is also important.” This has very real applications for helping people remember to take medications that can be essential to their health and well-being.

“We’ve found such a disparity between young and old adults, that it’s clear we need to tailor our messages to these two groups,” Neupert says. “For example, it is important for young people to stay busy and be active. That will help them remember to take their medications. However, we need to let older adults know that need to be particularly vigilant about remembering medication on days when they expect to be busier than usual.”

The study, “Age Differences in Daily Predictors of Forgetting to Take Medication: The Importance of Context and Cognition,” will be published in a forthcoming issue of Experimental Aging Research. It was co-authored by Neupert, NC State graduate student Taryn Patterson, former NC State undergraduate Agnes Davis and Dr. Jason Allaire, an associate professor of psychology at NC State. The research was funded by a gift from Vasudha Gupta.

NC State’s Department of Psychology is part of the university’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

I'd love to know if the study has only been done with Diabetics or if it covers all "illnesses"?
I know that on days that I haven't got much to do, I have to remind myself to take my meds - but on days that I don't have a minute spare, I remember as soon as I wake up.


Weird

I think it was probably across the board. When people are described as on 'poly pharmacy' i.e more than 4-5 different meds then it can get very confusing, especially with the elderly. I had a number of clients that were taking statins at breakfast (they should be taken at night before bed) and said that no one had told them any different !

Makes no difference sometimes what it says on the labels and many only kniow there tabs just by the colour.. (I take 2 x blue in the morning and 3 by different whites in the evening etc....)


Basically the more you take the more dificult it is to keep track of them no matter how long you have been on them!

I had one patient who was on 22 different meds a day !!

I rattled at the mere thought of it
N

Compared to most on here I don't take that many meds:
There are 2 different tablets and 1 inhaler every morning when I wake up, then at night I take 4 different tablets, 1 inhaler and 2 mild painkillers - at weekends when I'm not going to be driving I take the 2 mild and 3 stronger painkillers (so at least I'm relatively pain-free all day Saturday and Sunday morning).
I'm ok if I forget some of the tablets, but if I'm getting low on Singulair I panic - that's the one that keeps me alive

I place an order for 3 months worth of Metformin and associated packets of stuff. I now walk out with a carrier bag full.

Some of my patients get weekly deliveries to their door and have these huge pill boxes that they or their carer's fill up each week with enough colours and shapes and sizes to keep your average pre school kiddy having fun for ages