The colors used in generic pill medications may affect the frequency with which patients take them, says a new study from researchers at the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
For the study researchers surveyed prescription drug users between 2001 to 2006. They found that 11,472 stopped filling their scripts while over 50,000 continued to do so. Epilepsy drug users were especially responsive to the color of the pill, with 53 percent discontinuing use after the color changed.
"Pill appearance has long been suspected to be linked to medication adherence, yet this is the first empirical analysis that we know of that directly links pills' physical characteristics to patients' adherence behavior," lead researcher Dr. Aaron S. Kesselheim said in a written statement. "We found that changes in pill color significantly increase the odds that patients will stop taking their drugs as prescribed."
The study appeared on December 31 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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