Survey finds medication nonadherence to save money rises with chronic condition count in US adults

A cross-sectional analysis of 2018 US National Health Interview Survey data examined medication cost-saving behaviors among adults aged 18 years or older who were prescribed medication in the past 12 months. The study reported descriptive epidemiology, with no specific intervention or comparator. The main finding was that the percentage of adults who did not take their medication as prescribed to save money increased with the number of reported chronic conditions. A secondary outcome was the percentage who asked for a lower-cost medication to save money. No absolute numbers, effect sizes, or statistical measures were reported for these associations. Safety and tolerability data were not reported. Key limitations include the observational, cross-sectional survey design, reliance on self-reported measures, and inability to establish causality. The findings are relevant as descriptive epidemiology highlighting a positive association between chronic disease burden and reported cost-related medication nonadherence in the 2018 US population, but they do not quantify the magnitude of the problem or prove that more conditions cause more nonadherence.