ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2017
Impact of initial medication non-adherence on use of healthcare services and sick leave: a longitudinal study in a large primary care cohort in Spain.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Economic Evaluations Informed Exclusively by Real World Data: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Nurse-led medication self-management intervention in the improvement of medication adherence in adult patients with multi-morbidity: A Protocol for a Feasibility Randomized controlled trial.Global epidemiology · 2025Article
- Insights on pediatric medication initiation: perceptions of caregivers and children.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Not obtaining a medication the first time it is prescribed: primary non-adherence to cardiovascular pharmacotherapy.Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society · 2024Review
- Article
- Article
- Article
- Pediatric Medication Noninitiation in Spain.Pediatrics · 2022Observational
- Medication Adherence Among Hypertensive Patients Attending Different Primary Health Centers in Abha, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.Patient preference and adherence · 2022Article
- Health Outcomes and Primary Adherence to Secondary Prevention Treatment after St-Elevation Myocardial Infarction: a Spanish Cohort Study.Journal of cardiovascular translational research · 2021Observational
- Article
- Observational
- Who Suffers From Pharmaceutical Poverty and What Are Their Needs? Evidence From a Spanish Region.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- Article
- Initiation and Single Dispensing in Cardiovascular and Insulin Medications: Prevalence and Explanatory Factors.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Development of a Strategic Tool for Shared Decision-Making in the Use of Antidepressants among Patients with Major Depressive Disorder: A Focus Group Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInitial medication non-adherence is highly prevalent in primary care but no previous studies have evaluated its impact on the use of healthcare services and/or days on sick leave.
aimTo estimate the impact of initial medication non-adherence on the use of healthcare services, days of sick leave, and costs overall and in specific medication groups. DESIGN AND
settingA 3-year longitudinal register-based study of all primary care patients (a cohort of 1.7 million) who were prescribed a new medication in Catalonia (Spain) in 2012.
methodThirteen of the most prescribed and/or costly medication subgroups were considered. All medication and medication subgroups (chronic, analgesics, and penicillin) were analysed. The number of healthcare services used and days on sick leave were considered. Multilevel multivariate linear regression was used. Three levels were included: patient, GP, and primary care centre.
resultsInitially adherent patients made more use of medicines and some healthcare services than non-adherent and partially adherent patients. They had lower productivity losses, producing a net economic return, especially when drugs for acute diseases (such as penicillins) were considered. Initial medication non-adherence resulted in a higher economic burden to the system in the short term.
conclusionInitial medication non-adherence seems to have a short-term impact on productivity losses and costs. The clinical consequences and long-term economic consequences of initial medication non-adherence need to be assessed. Interventions to promote initial medication adherence in primary care may reduce costs and improve health outcomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.