Medication Adherence Research: Essential to Improving Health

摘要

Poor medication adherence has been identified by the World Health Organization as a significant public health problem contributing to increased morbidity, mortality, hospitalizations, and health care costs (Sabate, 2003). Costs associated with medication nonadherence are estimated to total well over US$100 billion per year (DiMatteo, Giordani, Lepper, & Croghan, 2002; Starner, 2006; Vlasnik, Aliotta, & DeLor, 2005). The articles in this special issue of Western Journal of Nursing Research (WJNR) address important aspects of medication adherence research that are central to furthering what we know about how to help people achieve maximum health benefits from their medication regimens.