Take your health into your own hands!
Many people need to take medication regularly, but not all of them actually do. Here you can read about the reasons why those affected do not take their medication consistently and the consequences this can have.
Data from the Health Survey for England shows that:
- 44% of men and 51% of women reported taking at least one prescribed medicine in the past week.
- 24% of men and 25% of women had taken three or more prescribed medicines in that same period.
According to Eurostat data from 2019:
- In Ireland, approximately 42% of men and 52% of women aged 15 and over reported using prescribed medicines during a two-week period.
Particularly important for chronic heart disease: adherence
Ischaemic Heart Disease is the leading cause of death in the UK and the most common reason for hospitalisation - despite the fact that treatment options have continuously improved. One of the reasons for this is that many sufferers do not stick to their treatment in the long term, do not take prescribed medication regularly and do not consistently adhere to the necessary lifestyle changes. Doctors refer to this as poor adherence.
What causes a lack of adherence?
There are many reasons why patients do not succeed in implementing the therapy agreed with their doctor. For example, some medicines have severe side effects. Patients then tend to simply stop taking the medication in question or take it less frequently due to such a side effect.
Some people feel so much better during treatment that they decide to stop taking the tablets. This is particularly common after heart attacks. However, it is particularly dangerous in the case of chronic illnesses, where long-term use is urgently required.
It can also happen that some tablets are simply forgotten. Older people in particular often have a large number of different medications that they are supposed to take. This can lead to mix-ups, mistakes when sorting or not being able to take all the tablets at once. Follow-up prescriptions are also often forgotten and check-up appointments are not kept.
In addition, a so-called "drug holiday" can complicate the intake: This means that, in consultation with the doctor, taking a medication is paused for a certain period of time and then restarted. This can increase the effect or provide relief from side effects in the meantime. Starting again after such a "vacation", i.e. a break, requires additional attention. On the other hand, it also happens time and again that patients decide to take such drug vacations on their own initiative, for example at the weekend or when traveling.
Why is consistency important in therapy?
Medicines are developed with great care. The dosages that have the best effect are also determined. A very important part of any drug therapy is therefore that you take the medication regularly and in the correct amount. If a dose is omitted or taken twice, the medicine may not work properly. Depending on the active ingredient, this can lead to severe reactions that can even be life-threatening. For example, if a diabetes patient accidentally takes a double dose of insulin and notices this too late, this can lead to life-threatening hypoglycaemia.
In addition to treatment with drugs such as ACE inhibitors, sartans, beta-blockers and diuretics such as aldosterone antagonists, lifestyle changes are particularly important for chronic heart disease. This includes plenty of exercise and a healthy diet. But even these measures can only help if they are taken regularly.
How can this be remedied?
Optimize medication: As a general rule, your doctor should check at least once a year whether all prescribed medication is still necessary. Particularly in the case of illnesses that occur at the same time, there may be undesirable interactions between individual medicines. In order to reduce the number of tablets, there are also combination preparations for some combinations of active ingredients: only one pill needs to be swallowed instead of two or three, which significantly reduces the risk of confusion or forgetting. One example of this is the relatively new angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitors (ARNI for short). They consist of two active substances in one preparation. ARNIs work in a similar way to ACE inhibitors, but also have an effect on the body's own enzyme (neprilysin), which also increases blood pressure and is blocked by this medication.
Digital reminders: There are now apps to remind you to take your medication regularly. "Medisafe", "Doseful - Pill Reminder" and "MyTherpay MEdication Reminder" are just a few of a range of programs on offer. You download these to your smartphone and enter the intake time for each medicine. The app then reminds you regularly to take the respective medication. However, this form of reminder is only suitable for people who use their smartphone several times a day anyway. Otherwise, a clearly audible audio signal must be set.
Reminder service: Not everyone uses a smartphone and so some doctors' surgeries offer reminder messages that they send to the patient's cell phone. If this is also not possible, there is the option of being reminded to take tablets by telephone.
Support from nursing staff: If patients have difficulties in obtaining, compiling and regularly taking their medication themselves, the doctor can issue a prescription as part of home care.
Understanding the disease is important
It is important that you understand your illness so that you can implement your entire therapy with confidence. So don't be afraid to ask your doctor all your questions! He will certainly also have good information material that you can read through at home. Serious information for patients on the subject of chronic heart disease is also available on the Internet, e.g. on the website of the British Heart Foundation.
You can also keep a diary in which you document the progression of your disease. This will not only help you to stay on the ball in everyday life. It can also provide your doctor with important information.
Become an expert!
Taking responsibility for your own health can give you back a lot of self-confidence, especially after being diagnosed with a chronic illness! You become an expert in your own well-being. An important component of this is consistent therapy, as it reduces the risk of hospitalization and significantly improves your quality of life.
- References
- pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34293121/
- European Society of Cardiology. Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure. European Heart Journal (2016) 37: 2129-2200
- digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-england-additional-analyses/ethnicity-and-health-2011-2019-experimental-statistics/prescribed-medicines
9-UK-5-16517-01 08-2025