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Cutting drugs to save money harms health

ANN ARBOR, Mich., June 28 (UPI) -- In the first study of its kind, U.S. researchers found cutting back on prescription medication because of high cost can harm health.

The University of Michigan and VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System team studied nearly 8,000 older adults who regularly took prescription drugs and found those who cut back due to cost were 76 percent more likely to suffer a significant decline in health and 50 percent more likely to have had a heart attack or complication after only three years.

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This held true even after adjusting for factors such as age, race, income and health habits, researchers said.

Participants over age 70 with depression who cut back on medication also were more likely to have significantly worse depression by the study's end, researchers said.

"There is a growing array of effective but often expensive prescription medications that clearly improve health outcomes, especially in the field of cardiovascular disease," wrote lead author, Dr. Michele Heisler of the VA system. "As medications become even more effective, differences in access to prescriptions drugs because of cost may further worsen disparities in health outcomes between rich and poor Americans."

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