John Cleese takes us on a tour of a laughter therapy practice in India.
Laughter promotes stress reduction, community bonding, stronger immune system... and joy. What a simple solution!
Newswise -- Buying medicine by mail may encourage patients to stick
to their doctor-prescribed medication regimen, new research suggests.
Patients with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol
Researchers from UCLA and Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., found that patients with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol who ordered their medications by mail were more likely to take them as prescribed by their physicians than patients who obtained medications from a local pharmacy.
"The
field of medication adherence research typically focuses on patient
factors for poor adherence, leading to a 'blame the patient' approach
for non-adherence," said Dr. O. Kenrik Duru, the study's lead
researcher and an assistant professor in the division of general
internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen
School of Medicine at UCLA.
Streamline the medication-acquisition process
"Our work helps to place this issue in a larger perspective," Duru said. "Our findings indicate that mail-order pharmacies streamline the medication-acquisition process, which is associated with better medication adherence."
The researchers found that 84.7 percent of patients who received their medications by mail at least two-thirds of the time stuck to their physician-prescribed regimen, compared with 76.9 percent of those who picked up their medications at traditional "brick-and-mortar" Kaiser Permanente pharmacies.
"The results were consistent for all three classes of medication, including medications to control diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol," said co-investigator Julie A. Schmittdiel, Ph.D., a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente research division.
Other findings include:
• Before adjusting for other variables, white patients were more likely than Hispanics to obtain medications by mail (61.0 percent vs. 37.1 percent) and to be in the highest socioeconomic status quartile (27.5 percent vs. 17.8 percent).
• Mail-order pharmacy users were more likely than local pharmacy users to have a financial incentive to fill their prescriptions (49.6 percent vs. 23.0 percent) and to live a greater distance from a local pharmacy (8.0 miles vs. 6.7 miles). An example of a financial incentive is receiving a three-month supply of medication for the cost of a two-month supply.
• After adjusting for other variables, whites were more likely to use mail-order pharmacies (24.1 percent) than were Asian/Pacific Islanders (8.4 percent), Hispanics (5.2 percent), African Americans (4.0 percent) and individuals of mixed race (8.0 percent).
While other research has examined the association between medication costs and mail-order and local pharmacies, this is the first study to look at the relationship between pharmacy type and medication adherence. Furthermore, it controls for differences in out-of-pocket costs and medication supply (by number of days) between mail-order and local pharmacy users, something other datasets have not included.
"In other words, our study is able to isolate the use of mail-order pharmacies specifically, without the results being affected by differences in cost or in the number of pills provided with each dispensing," Duru said.
The study does have some limitations. For example, the findings need to be confirmed by a randomized controlled trial.
Still, the research suggests that increased mail-order use to obtain medications could improve patients' adherence.
In
addition to Duru and Schmittdiel, researchers included Wendy Dyer,
Melissa Parker, Connie Uratsu, James Chan and Andrew J. Karter of the
research division at Kaiser Permanente Northern California.
Grants
from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases funded
this study.
The Kaiser Permanente Division of Research conducts,
publishes and disseminates epidemiologic and health services research
to improve the health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and
society at large.
According to one of my favorite online health information sources, Mayo Clinic, physical activity is a "best practice" for everyone's health.
Regardless of age, weight or athletic ability, aerobic activity is good
for you. As your body adapts to regular aerobic exercise, you'll get
stronger and your body's organs get more efficient.
Consider these 10 ways that aerobic activity can help you feel better and enjoy life to the fullest.
Aerobic activity can help you:
and also community-contributed health materials. The Gateway's
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Users even have the option of rating a material based on their
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future Gateway visitors.AAPCHO is a national association representing 27 community health organizations dedicated to promoting advocacy, collaboration and leadership that improves the health status and access of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders in the United States. Since 1987, AAPCHO has advocated for policies and programs that improve the provision of healthcare services that are community driven, financially affordable, linguistically accessible and culturally appropriate.