2006年VOA标准英语-Forgetting to Take Medications Can be Costly

By Melinda Smith
Washington, DC
11 December 2006
 
watching Skipping Medications

Skipping medications can be harmful

The older we get, the more medications many of us seem to need to stay healthy.  It takes more than just a good memory to keep track of all those pills.  It also takes organization and following doctor's orders.

When former president Bill Clinton left office, he quit taking a cholesterol¹-lowering drug called a statin. Dr. Richard Stein of the American Heart Association says that was a mistake. "When you stop refilling these pills, you're giving up that 30 to 40 per cent reduction on your chance of having a heart attack."

Quadruple bypass surgery found almost complete blockage² in some of Mr. Clinton's arteries³.  Statin drugs help reduce the risk of heart attacks.  Stopping a medication, like a statin, is a common mistake.

A study in the Netherlands of almost 60,000 people has shown that almost half of those taking statin drugs stopped taking them within a two-year period.  Just one third used them consistently.  Some reasons why:  the cost of the drug may be too high or there are unusual side effects.

But Dr. Richard Stein says a more common reason is because patients didn't notice an immediate⁴ difference in how they felt. "We are good for [at] taking a pill for sore throats or coughs because we have the symptoms.  We are terrible at taking pills for high cholesterol."

Elderly patients frequently have more than just one medication to take each day.  An experimental program at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. showed that when older people were given individually measured packs of prescriptions⁵, they were far more successful in following doctor's orders.  Dr. Allen Taylor explains. "In the study we found that medication adherence⁶ improved from 61 percent before the program, to over 96 percent."

One example:  a majority of the older patients at Walter Reed who took statin drugs found that their blood pressure and cholesterol levels improved while they took the pills consistently.  That is a lesson even a former U.S. president had to learn.

1 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

2 blockage   

n.障碍物；封锁

参考例句：

• The logical treatment is to remove this blockage.合理的治疗方法就是清除堵塞物。
• If the blockage worked,they could retreat with dignity.如果封锁发生作用，他们可以体面地撤退。

3 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

6 adherence   

n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着

参考例句：

• He was well known for his adherence to the rules.他因遵循这些规定而出名。
• The teacher demanded adherence to the rules.老师要求学生们遵守纪律。