Atlanta—Pharmacists are well aware that some patients filling prescriptions are unable to follow drug regimens because of cost; they skip doses, take less medication than prescribed, or delay refills.

A new report from the CDC reveals data on who is most likely to do that.

The data brief pointed out that approximately 60% of adults aged 18 years and older reported taking at least one prescription medication in 2021, with 36% reporting taking three or more. During that time, out-of-pocket costs for retail drugs jumped up 4.8% to $63 billion in 2021.

“High costs may limit individuals’ access to medications and lead to people not taking medication as prescribed; this may result in more serious illness and require additional treatment,” the CDC researchers wrote.

Key findings from the National Health Interview Survey in 2021 included:

• 8.2% of adults who took prescription medication in the past 12 months reported not taking medication as prescribed due to cost
• Women (9.1%) were more likely than men (7.0%) to not take medication as prescribed
• Adults with disabilities (20.0%) were more likely than adults without disabilities (7.1%) to not take medication as prescribed to reduce costs
• Uninsured adults were more likely than adults with other health coverage, Medicaid, or private health insurance to not take medication as prescribed due to cost
• Adults without prescription drug coverage were more likely to not take medication as prescribed to reduce costs compared with adults with public or private prescription drug coverage.

Racial and ethnic differences also were identified. The authors pointed out that non-Hispanic other or multiple race adults (11.5%) and non-Hispanic black adults (10.4%) were more likely than non-Hispanic white (subsequently, white; 7.4%) or non-Hispanic Asian (6.8%) adults to not take medication as prescribed. Hispanic adults were more likely than white adults to not take medication due to cost, they added.

Health status also played a key role, according to the report. Adults in fair or poor health (18.0%) were almost three times more likely than those in excellent, very good, or good health (6.3%) to not take medication as prescribed.

“In 2021, of the 57.9% of adults aged 18-64 who took prescription drugs at any time in the past 12 months, 9.2 million adults (8.2%) reported not taking medications as prescribed due to cost, employing such strategies as skipping doses, taking less than the prescribed dose, or delaying filling a prescription,” the authors concluded. “Further, variation was seen in the percentage of adults not taking medication as prescribed by demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as by disability status and health status, health insurance, and prescription drug coverage.”

Examples cited included that women were more likely than men to not take medication as prescribed. The percentage of adults not taking medication as prescribed declined as family income increased and adults who lacked health coverage, those in fair or poor health, and those with disabilities were among the most likely to not take medication as prescribed.

The authors advised that a driver of the trend was the greater use of prescription medications, explaining, “Although the average price per prescription remained flat between 2020 and 2021, the number of retail prescriptions grew, with out-of-pocket spending for prescription medications increasing by 4.8%.”

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