Medical Nonadherence: A Growing Health Problem for Latinos

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Many Latinos face numerous barriers that keep them from attaining the best healthcare possible. These range from a lack of access and a lack of coverage to a language barriers and cultural stigmas.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently uncovered another barrier: medical nonadherence.

According to the CDC, not following instructions for prescribed medications accounts for 125,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. Medication nonadherence also accounts for 11% of all hospitalizations and between $100 and $300 billion in spending. Medical nonadherence has become a major public health concern, especially for minority and low-income families.

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Further research by the CDC has found that 20%-30% of all medication prescriptions are never filled and patients do not continue with their prescriptions nearly 50% of the time.

The CDC has released a series of videos to help healthcare professionals and patients understand how important it is to take the medicine that is prescribed. Done in English and Spanish, the videos are free and available to the public.

You can view the English-language video here and the Spanish-language video here.

Read more about this story here.

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