Nearly one in two patients with a chronic illness does not take their medication as prescribed, and the health consequences are “catastrophic,” experts warned Monday, calling for increased efforts to address this “public health problem.” According to an Opinionway study conducted for the Medintechs trade show in Paris, approximately 42% of patients on long-term treatment report having “already forgotten or interrupted a dose” in the past year.
“The patient doesn’t take their medication every day, takes a break on the weekend, takes half the dose, or regularly forgets,” explained Professor Gérard Friedlander, emeritus professor at Université Paris-Cité, during a press conference. A wide range of conditions are affected, including cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and cancer. “The health consequences are catastrophic”: “This leads to more re-hospitalizations, more worsening of conditions, and more relapses,” and for the healthcare system, “a major cost,” Friedlander emphasized.
Non-adherence to treatment plans is a significant challenge for public health, potentially undermining the effectiveness of even the most advanced medical interventions.
Time Constraints, Lack of Trust…
Among patients with hypertension, “20% do not purchase the initial prescription,” often without informing their doctor, who has tools to “detect non-adherence” to treatment (urine and hair analysis, among others) but in a “sporadic” manner, according to Michel Azizi, a cardiologist specializing at Georges Pompidou Hospital.
The reasons for this are varied: “lack of time for the doctor” to “explain the illness,” a lack of trust from the patient, the “complexity” of treatments—which sometimes require swallowing a dozen pills daily— “side effects,” which, when not “serious” (vomiting, pain, etc.), are “not systematically evaluated,” noted Dr. Mario Di Palma, an oncologist at Gustave Roussy Hospital.
Adherence to treatment requires “an important, prolonged dialogue,” particularly during “therapeutic education” sessions, which are difficult to access and generally reserved for “the most serious cases” in diabetology, lamented Jean-François Thébaut, vice-president of the French Diabetes Federation. He “expects a lot” from the “new pre-ALD status” (long-term condition), provided for in the 2026 social security budget, which should allow for care “before this aggravation.”
Potential solutions include “digital tools” that, with the assist of paramedical professionals (pharmacists, nurses, etc.), can monitor the patient, assess side effects, or “send reminders” via SMS when it’s time to take a pill. Pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, and associations must “perform together,” the speakers pleaded, also calling for the development of new formulations and methods of drug administration, such as PrEP, a preventive treatment for HIV now administered via two annual injections.
