Depression 'contributes to medication adherence failure'RSS Feed

Depressed individuals are less likely to adhere to treatment for long-term health problems, a study has found, potentially including chronic pain caused by spinal injury.

Research published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine revealed that people with depression were 76 per cent more likely to not adhere to medications for conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

Senior author Dr Walid F Gellad recommended that physicians regularly ask patients with depression about their treatment adherence and when treating an individual who is failing to take their medication correctly, consider depression as a contributing factor.

"These findings provide the best evidence to date that depression is an important risk factor that may influence whether patients adhere to their medications," he said.

In other news, surgery has been seen to greatly improve the chance of survival in spinal injury patients in a study presented at the meeting of the British Geriatric Society.

News brought to you by Serious Law specialists in brain injury

Posted by Paul Breen
 

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