Table 1.
Participant Characteristics
| Characteristic | Resulta |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 (n=394) | Phase 2 (n=200) | |||
| Age, mean (range) | 50.9 (18-90) | 64.8 (19-93) | ||
| Male sex, n (%) | 174 (44.2) | 69 (34.5) | ||
| Race, n (%)b | Caucasian | 313 (80.1) | Caucasian | 192 (96.5) |
| African American | 65 (16.6) | African American | 3 (1.5) | |
| Hispanic | 7 (1.8) | More than one race | 4 (2) | |
| Asian | 3 (0.8) | |||
| Other | 3 (0.8) | |||
| Marital status, n (%) | N/A | Single, living alone | 19 (9.5) | |
| Single, living with partner | 6 (3) | |||
| Single, living with friend/relative | 4 (2) | |||
| Married | 123 (61.5) | |||
| Separated/divorced | 14 (7) | |||
| Widowed | 34 (17) | |||
| Highest level of education completed, n (%)b | Grade School | 10 (2.6) | Grade/Middle School | 18 (9.1) |
| High School | 156 (40.8) | High School or GED | 96 (48.7) | |
| College | 139 (36.4) | Some College or Community College/Trade School | 53 (26.9) | |
| Graduate/Professional School | 77 (20.2) | Bachelor's | 19 (9.6) | |
| Graduate or Professional School | 11 (5.6) | |||
| Income, n (%)b,c | 0-$20,000 | 125 (35.4) | Comfortable | 108 (54.5) |
| $20,001-$40,000 | 91 (25.8) | Just enough to make ends meet | 74 (37.4) | |
| $40,001-$60,000 | 58 (16.4) | |||
| $60,001 + | 79 (22.4) | Do not have enough to make ends meet | 16 (8.1) | |
| Difficulty paying for medications, n (%)d | Strongly Agree | 62 (15.9) | Strongly Agree | 21 (10.7) |
| Agree | 94 (24.2) | Agree | 46 (23.4) | |
| Not Sure | 16 (4.1) | Not Sure | 19 (9.6) | |
| Disagree | 171 (44.0) | Disagree | 77 (39.1) | |
| Strongly Disagree | 46 (11.8) | Strongly Disagree | 34 (17.3) | |
| Total number of medications used, median (range)b,e | 4 (1-22) | 9 (3-26) | ||
| Number of prescription medications, median (range) | N/A | 6 (1-19) | ||
| Number of non-prescription medications, median (range) | N/A | 1 (0-7) | ||
| Number of vitamins, herbals, supplements, median (range) | N/A | 1 (0-23) | ||
| Total number of daily doses of medication, median (range) | N/A | 9 (1-32) | ||
| Number of medication-related problems, median (range) | N/A | 2 (0-8) | ||
| One or more indication problems, n (%)f | N/A | 156 (78) | ||
| One or more effectiveness problems, n (%)g | N/A | 61 (30.5) | ||
| One or more safety problems, n (%)h | N/A | 60 (30) | ||
| One or more adherence problems, n (%)i | N/A | 68 (34) | ||
Will not always sum to total n as not every respondent answered every item
Data collected differently in Phase 1 vs Phase 2
Item for Phase 2: “How would you describe your household income?”
Item: “It is difficult to pay for my medication.”
In Phase 1, this was asked as, “How many different medications do you take every day?”; In Phase 2, this was computed by summing the total number of prescription, non-prescription, and herbal medications recorded by the pharmacist.
Includes: No valid medical indication for the drug therapy at this time; Multiple drug therapies are being used for a condition that requires single drug therapy; Medical condition is more appropriately treated with nondrug therapy; Drug therapy is being taken to treat an avoidable adverse reaction associated with another medication; Drug abuse, alcohol use, or smoking is causing the medical problem; Medical condition requires the initiation of drug therapy; Preventive drug therapy is required to reduce the risk of developing a new condition; Medical condition requires additional drug therapy to attain synergistic or additive effects.
Includes: Drug product is not the most effective product for the indication being treated; Medical condition is refractory to the drug product; Dosage form of the drug product is inappropriate; Drug is not effective for the medical problem; Dose is too low to produce the desired response; Dosage interval is too infrequent to produce the desired response; Drug interaction reduces the amount of active drug available; Duration of drug therapy is too short to produce the desired response.
Includes: Drug product causes an undesirable reaction that is not dose-related; Safer drug product is required due to risk factors; Drug interaction causes an undesirable reaction that is not dose-related; Dosage regimen was administered or changed too rapidly; Drug product causes an allergic reaction; Drug product is contraindicated due to risk factors; Dose is too high; Dosing frequency is too short; Duration of drug therapy is too long; Drug interaction occurs resulting in a toxic reaction to the drug product; Dose of the drug was administered too rapidly.
Includes: Patient did not understand instructions; Patient prefers not to take medication; Patient forgets to take medication; Drug product is too expensive for the patient; Patient cannot swallow or self-administer the drug product appropriately; Drug product is not available for the patient.