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Just keep taking the tablets: Adherence to antidepressants in older primary care patients

Maidment, Rachel, Livingston, Gill, Katona, Cornelius (2002) Just keep taking the tablets: Adherence to antidepressants in older primary care patients. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17 (8). pp. 752-757. ISSN 0885-6230. (doi:10.1002/gps.688) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:12202)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/gps.688

Abstract

Background Poor adherence to antidepressant medication may account for a significant proportion of treatment failures. Adherence levels and factors associated with adherence have not previously been studied in older people. Objectives To report the prevalence and correlates of adherence to antidepressants in people greater than or equal to65 years of age in a primary care setting. Method Sixty-seven patients currently being prescribed antidepressants from a single rural general practice were assessed using a range of questionnaires measuring adherence to antidepressants, severity of depression, specific health education about antidepressants, level of side-effects, insight, positive and negatives beliefs about medication in general and antidepressants in particular, level of intellectual functioning (past and present), a past history of recovery from depression, type of antidepressant, complexity of prescriptions, age and living arrangements. Results Forty-five participants (67.2%) were fully adherent; seven (10.4%) mostly adherent, three (4.5%) adhered sometimes, three rarely and nine (13.4%) never. Backwards linear regression found that adherence increased with information given and cognitive impairment and decreased with concerns about taking antidepressants and severity of side-effects. Conclusions Non-adherence to antidepressant medication is a significant problem in older patients. Our study probably overestimated adherence as it was self-report, which usually overestimates adherence and the refusals are more likely to have been people not taking tablets but still found nearly one third of the patients were non-adherent. An intervention comprising education, eliciting and addressing specific concerns about antidepressant medication and using medication, which minimises side effects, may be helpful. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1002/gps.688
Uncontrolled keywords: depression adherence compliance antidepressant medication older people
Subjects: R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: M.P. Stone
Date Deposited: 20 Oct 2008 12:23 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:50 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/12202 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Katona, Cornelius.

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