Why the study?
Does depression increase the risk of noncompliance with medical treatment recommendations?
Does depression increase the risk of noncompliance with medical treatment recommendations?
Depression is a significant risk factor for medical noncompliance, increasing the odds of nonadherence threefold.
Depression screening may aid adherence in noncompliant patients; leaves open whether treating depression improves compliance.
Compared with nondepressed patients, the odds are 3 times greater that depressed patients will be noncompliant with medical treatment recommendations. Recommendations for future research include attention to causal inferences and exploration of mechanisms to explain the effects. Evidence of strong covariation of depression and medical noncompliance suggests the importance of recognizing depression as a risk factor for poor outcomes among patients who might not be adhering to medical advice.
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DiMatteo et al. (2000) studied this question.
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