Association Between Different Types of Social Support and Medication Adherence

© Managed Care & Healthcare Communications, LLC N onadherence to chronic medications imposes a substantial clinical and financial burden on the US healthcare system. Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that medication nonadherence is a common source of hospitalizations, morbidity, and mortality in a variety of populations and disease states.1-3 The financial consequences of medication nonadherence in the United States are tremendous; the cost of care for patients with cardiovascular disease and diabetes are substantially greater in those who do not adhere to therapy than in those who do adhere, and total annual costs of medication nonadherence are estimated at almost $300 billion in the United States.3,4 Despite the importance of medication nonadherence, no simple solutions are available to fix the problem.5 Numerous studies have aimed to improve medication adherence, yet best practices to enhance better medication taking continue to evolve.4-6 Moreover, little is known about the most cost-effective interventions to encourage better adherence.7 Therefore, new, low-cost approaches to improve medication adherence are needed to promote improved health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. The emergence of popular online social networking websites has stimulated interest in the role of social capital r connectedness in promoting health. Greater social support has been shown to be associated with improved health outcomes and healthier behavior.8 Yet the role of one’s social connectedness in medication adherence has not been well defined. Considering that social support connections are wide ranging, encompassing many aspects of the relationship between the patient and the person providing the support, we know even less about how different features of one’s social support system can influence medication use. Accordingly, we conducted a systematic review of the published literature to evaluate what is known about the association between social support and medication adherence in a variety of disease states, and to explore features of one’s social support that might encourage better behavior. To do so, we categorized social support structures into those that are more functional and those that are predominantly emotional in nature.9,10 We aimed to evaluate the relative influence of the various types of support on medication adherence, so that appropriate and effective interventions to improve medication adherence can be designed. Association Between Different Types of Social Support and Medication Adherence