The best medical advice or treatment regimen is only as good as a patient’s willingness and ability to follow it, and there’s a wide gap between what doctors recommend and what patients actually do.

Studies over the past three decades have shown that noncompliance can range from 20% to a staggering 80%, depending on the kind of treatment. On average, patients follow doctors’ advice to the letter only about half of the time. And when a treatment regimen is complicated or difficult—lifestyle changes to control hypertension or diabetes, for instance—compliance is even lower. Only about one in four people with hypertension manages to control his or her blood pressure adequately.

Even when it comes to something as simple as taking a single medication, one-third of patients may end up not following the dosing directions.

Failure to follow even simple medical advice can also put patients at significant risk. The patient who decides that an antihypertensive drug is just not worth the trouble after three months of taking it clearly increases his risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke

There are, of course, many reasons why patients fail to follow medical advice

One is that they simply don’t understand it. A surprisingly high number of patients don’t do what their doctors order because they are unable to read or fully comprehend printed instructions.

Patients struggle to understand essential health information, such as discharge instructions, consent forms, oral instructions, and labels on both prescription and over-the-counter medications,”

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Even under the best circumstances, there is often a great difference between what doctors say to patients and what patients actually hear and understand

Of course, understanding medical advice is only part of the issue. Even when people know exactly what their doctors want them to do, they may choose not to follow through, for a variety of reasons.

Some patients may not be convinced the therapy will help. Others may hold beliefs that discourage them from following a doctor’s advice

A patient’s decision to not comply with medical advice may be the result of careful ...

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