I always believe in finishing my medicine, or at least that which is prescribed by my doctor. After all, he or she wouldn't be prescribing it if I didn't need it, would they?
This especially applies to those who are afflicted with very serious conditions, such as cancer, a fact highlighted by this article:
--------------------------------------------------
Breast cancer patients are risking their lives by failing to take the tamoxifen they are prescribed, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Cancer on 18 Nov 2008.
Half of the women failed to finish a five year course of the drug and one in five regularly forget to take a tablet.
Experts already know that taking tamoxifen for five years increases survival chances and the new research reveals that women who miss at least one tablet every five days have a 10 per cent greater risk of dying.
The researchers - based at the University of Dundee and funded by the Medical Research Council and Breast Cancer Research (Scotland) - used the prescription records of more than 2000 women to see how many did not complete the standard treatment of a tamoxifen tablet every day and linked this to other health records to see if they were more likely to die.
The results show that 10 per cent of women followed for one year stopped taking tamoxifen, 19 per cent of the women followed for at least two years had stopped, 32 per cent of the women followed for three and a half years had stopped and a total of 51 per cent of women followed for five or more years had stopped taking the drug.
The study also showed that younger women were more likely to stop taking the medication early but there was no difference in the rich or poorer groups of women.
Source: Cancer Research UK; http://www.cancerresearchuk.org
--------------------------------------------------
Worrying news indeed, and an apt reminder to all of us that we should follow our doctors instructions per se
W.
This especially applies to those who are afflicted with very serious conditions, such as cancer, a fact highlighted by this article:
--------------------------------------------------
Breast cancer patients are risking their lives by failing to take the tamoxifen they are prescribed, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Cancer on 18 Nov 2008.
Half of the women failed to finish a five year course of the drug and one in five regularly forget to take a tablet.
Experts already know that taking tamoxifen for five years increases survival chances and the new research reveals that women who miss at least one tablet every five days have a 10 per cent greater risk of dying.
The researchers - based at the University of Dundee and funded by the Medical Research Council and Breast Cancer Research (Scotland) - used the prescription records of more than 2000 women to see how many did not complete the standard treatment of a tamoxifen tablet every day and linked this to other health records to see if they were more likely to die.
The results show that 10 per cent of women followed for one year stopped taking tamoxifen, 19 per cent of the women followed for at least two years had stopped, 32 per cent of the women followed for three and a half years had stopped and a total of 51 per cent of women followed for five or more years had stopped taking the drug.
The study also showed that younger women were more likely to stop taking the medication early but there was no difference in the rich or poorer groups of women.
Source: Cancer Research UK; http://www.cancerresearchuk.org
--------------------------------------------------
Worrying news indeed, and an apt reminder to all of us that we should follow our doctors instructions per se
W.
0 comments: