Impact of financial burden, resulting from prescription co-payments, on antihypertensive medication adherence in an older publically insured population.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Medication co-payments represent a financial barrier to antihypertensive medication adherence. The introduction of co-payments for Irish publically insured patients was associated with a 5% reduction in adherence. However there is socioeconomic variability within this population, and the impact may be greater for those on lower income. We evaluated medication-related financial burden of the co-payment in a cohort of Irish publically insured antihypertensive users and tested its association with adherence at 12 months.

Methods

This was a prospective cohort study of community dwelling older (> 65 yrs) adults (n = 1152) from 106 Irish community pharmacies. Participants completed a structured telephone interview at baseline, and a follow-up interview at 12-months, w

SUBMITTER: Dillon P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6247632 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature