Analysis by app maker MediSafe ranks 10 cities, six age brackets by medication nonadherence

HAIFA, Israel — Patients ages 20 years to 29 years and those in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., have the worst medication adherence in the country, according to an analysis by a company that markets an app for improving adherence.

MediSafe, based in Haifa, Israel, conducted an internal study of 1.7 million users of medication across the country, ranking 10 cities and six age brackets according to how nonadherent they were to their medication therapies. MediSafe's app is designed to prevent emergencies resulting from over- and under-dosing medications. According to a widely cited study by the New England Healthcare Institute, medication nonadherence costs the country an estimated $290 billion per year in added medical spending.

"We chose to analyze our data and reveal these findings in order to help raise awareness of non-adherence issues and encourage people to better manage their medication compliance," MediSafe CEO Omri Shor said. "These results are a wake-up call. Mobile pillbox technologies like Medisafe are free and easy to use, eliminating the excuse of forgetfulness when it comes to adherence. Nonadherence is a costly issue, but more importantly, it's affecting health outcomes, and [is] sometimes the cause behind fatalities."

After Fort Lauderdale, Brooklyn, N.Y., came in second for poor adherence, followed by Baltimore, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Washington and Atlanta. Among age groups, adherence rates mostly improved with older brackets, though patients ages 60 years to 69 years had the third-worst adherence, followed by those ages 40 years to 49 years.