Poor Compliance as a sign of Depression. Why Might an Elderly Man Stop His Medication?

With only half of individuals prescribed medication actually taking it, the reasons behind non-compliance warrant a thorough understanding. This paper reviews the factors behind medication non-adherence with a special interest in the link between depression and non-compliance. Whilst this link has been evidenced, we propose that non-compliance could be a presenting sign of underlying depression. Implications of the role of depression as a cause of non-compliance - in particular, why a patient might suddenly stop taking their medication - are discussed; further, early intervention to circumvent a major depressive episode could be implemented if recognition of sudden non-compliance is used by clinicians as a diagnostic tool to alert them to screen the patient for depression.