ABSTRACT
In summary, about 20% of patients take their medications (and medicate their children and older dependents) with remarkable precision, gaining maximal benefit as a result. And it has often been reported that up to 70% of asthmatic children admitted to Accident and Emergency (A & E) with acute, severe asthma have not been receiving their preventive steroid inhalations regularly. It is impossible to be precise, but it is estimated that at least 10 billion is wasted each year in the UK, by non-compliance. It is important for clinicians to know that a subgroup of the 40% of non-compliers are those who take their maintenance regimens intermittently, with gaps of days or weeks, or who 'cherry-pick' their 'favourite' medicines from a regimen of five or more drugs. Some of the most effective compliance-enhancing techniques: Many of them involve an extra workload for the prescribing doctor, the nurse, the pharmacist or the carer, or several of them.
