Why prescriptions go unfilled

A Canadian study has found that almost one-third of patients never fill the prescriptions for the medicines they are told to take.

The analysis, published online in The Annals of Internal Medicine, was conducted in Quebec, where all residents are covered by health and drug insurance. There were 15,961 patients in the study.

Overall, 31.3 percent of prescriptions were never filled. But some types were filled more often than others.

Prescriptions for headaches and migraines were filled more than half the time, but only 20 percent for bronchitis, and 25 percent for skin irritations.

The more often a patient saw the doctor, the more likely the prescriptions would be filled, but medicines with high co-pays were less likely to be bought.

People younger than 52 were much less likely to fill their prescriptions than older people, and men slightly less likely than women.

New York Times