**Author details**

**3.** the posology and type of medicine; and

**1.** adequate and continuous information;

**2.** training of health teams in motivational strategies; and

**3.** adoption and continued application of these strategies [25].

by the elderly on the economy has not yet been fully unveiled.

According to the WHO proposal, increased adherence is based on three measures:

Regardless of the classification used, the improvement in therapeutic adherence passes through the link between information and motivation. Knowing the concepts about diseases and treatments may result in the adoption of long-lasting behaviours and attitudes that favour

As the population is aging, people are more prone to chronic diseases. Pharmacotherapy is the best treatment to follow. Approximately, half of the elderly have at least three chronic diseases, which result in polypharmacy. Complicated drug delivery regimens cause the elderly to eventually give up treatment. Another reason for treatment discontinuation is the high prices of medicines. Failure to adhere to treatment has a negative impact not only on the patient's health, increasing the risk of morbidity and mortality, yet also on the sustainability of entire healthcare care systems, due to higher number of avoidable hospitalizations and emergency

Thus, it becomes mandatory to find a way to overcome this problem, and it is necessary to implement techniques that increase adherence. These changes start with patient education. Providing the patients with all the necessary information about their illness, treatment, prognosis, and the consequences of non-adherence is the prerequisite of the right decisions. However, this should be followed with the use of other adherence-targeting interventions,

Finally, more studies are needed in this area, as the impact of non-adherence to therapeutics

This work received financial support from the European Union (FEDER funds POCI/01/0145/ FEDER/007728) and National Funds (FCT/MEC, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Ministério da Educação e Ciência) under the Partnership Agreement PT2020 UID/MULTI/

**4.** the availability of health services.

36 Gerontology

adherence to treatment by patients.

visits, and finally, on the economy.

tailored to the individual needs.

**Acknowledgments**

04378/2013.

**6. Concluding remarks**

Luís Midão<sup>1</sup> , Anna Giardini<sup>2</sup> , Enrica Menditto<sup>3</sup> , Przemyslaw Kardas4 and Elísio Costa<sup>1</sup> \*

\*Address all correspondence to: emcosta@ff.up.pt

1 UCIBIO, REQUIMTE and Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

2 Psychology Unit, Instituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri Spa – Società Benefit, Care and Research Institute, IRCCS Montescano, Italy

3 School of Pharmacy, CIRFF/Center of Pharmacoeconomics, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

4 Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
