14 DAY TRIAL // According to the conclusions of a new scientific analysis conducted by investigators at the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto, it would appear that as many as 10 percent of all Canadians are unable to follow their doctors' prescriptions, as directed.
For these individuals, the costs of drugs is simply too high, and they are just too poor. The situation has implications not only for this population subgroup's chances of survival, but also for public safety. Bacterial infections left untreated can lead to the development of new, drug-resistant strains.
Details of the new investigation appear in the January 16 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). This paper is one of the first ever to examine the intricate relationships between actual prescription drug use rates and drug insurances.
In order to collect the most relevant batch of data, a team of experts from the UBC Center for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR) decided to analyze data covering a sample of 5,732 individuals who were a part of the Canadian Community Health Survey, conducted by Statistics Canada.
Of this sample, more than 9.6 percent of patients reported abnormalities with getting their drugs. These included not filling their prescriptions, failing to refill, or even skipping doses from time to time. Usually, high costs were used to justify this state of affairs.
The team also found that more than a quarter of Canadians who do not have drug insurance engaged in at least one of these habits. Some 26.5 percent of them reported that they were simply not able to afford getting all the medication they needed.
“Our results clearly demonstrate that cost-related problems in accessing prescription drugs are disproportionately borne by the poor, the sick and the uninsured,” UBC School of Population and Public Health assistant professor Michael Law explains.
“More than one in four Canadians without health insurance are forced, financially, to go without the prescription drugs they need,” the investigator goes on to say. Interestingly, British Columbia residents were twice more likely than others to be unable to fill their prescriptions.
“The Canadian most likely to have problems affording their prescription drugs is in poor health, carries no drug insurance, and lives in British Columbia,” Law concludes.