National Survey finds
that in the last three months millions of Americans are stretching their drug
prescriptions, saving themselves money, by either taking the medication less
often or by taking a smaller dosage than the physician prescribed.
Media,
PA December 16, 2008 - Findings of this survey, conducted by independent market research firm, ICR / International Communications Research,
project that over 13.5 million Americans, equivalent to over 1/5 of U.S. adults
who use long-term prescribed medication (including those taking injectable
medications), in the last three months, have taken steps to stretch out their
medications, either reducing the dosage or taking it less often than
prescribed.
Over
12 million Americans taking oral medications and over 1 million adult Americans
taking injectable medications are projected to have begun stretching their
prescriptions in the last three months, based on questions about recent
behaviors in taking medication.
About
one in ten patients who take even critical medications that must be injected by
a health professional, like a physician or home health care service, have
figured out ways to stretch out these often very expensive doctor recommended
prescriptions. Overall, for injectable
medicines, the percentage of patients who indicate stretching prescriptions in
the last three months ranges from 9% (half million Americans) for medications
injected by a health care professional, to 22% (more than of a million
Americans) for self-injected drugs like insulin for diabetics.
Issues
of overall cost and the recent financial climate, including factors relating to
insurance coverage and medication co-pay are given by respondents as the most
cited reasons that they have begun stretching out their medication
prescriptions. Further research is
required to more clearly understand all of the reasons for prescription
stretching and to show ongoing trends in this new economic environment.
This
study was conducted using ICRs
EXCEL Omnibus survey. EXCEL is a
national telephone omnibus service designed to meet the standards of quality
associated with custom research studies.
The EXCEL survey consists of a standard set of introductory and
demographic questions supplemented by a changing series of questions on various
topics.
Each
EXCEL survey consists of a minimum of 1,000 interviews, with 50% men and 50%
women. EXCEL uses a fully-replicated,
stratified, single-stage random-digit-dialing (RDD) sample of telephone
households. Sample telephone numbers are
computer generated and loaded into on-line sample files accessed directly by
the CRT system. Within each sample
household, one adult respondent is randomly selected using a computerized
procedure based on the Most Recent Birthday Method.
This
study was conducted with 1,020 adults from November 13 to November 16,
2008. Because this is a sample, and not
an actual population, an associated margin of error applies. At a 95% level of confidence, the margin of
error for this sample of 1,020 is +/- 3.1
ICR / International Communications Research
Based
in Media, PA.,
ICR is a leading market research company which conducts research in more than 90
countries. ICR offers a full line of
custom and omnibus research services.
Its omnibus solutions include small business, teen and Hispanic research
services. ICRs full suite of custom
research services are guided by industry experts and advanced analytics, with a
specialization in brand, customer loyalty, product development, market
exploration, and public affairs research.
For more information about ICR, www.icrsurvey.com.
Contact:
ICR / International Communications Research
Linda C. Lamberto
484-840-4300
info@icrsurvey.com
www.icrsurvey.com
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