title: Willingness to take drugs to prevent serious chronic diseases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to determine an individual's willingness to take a preventive therapy for each of two chronic diseases (type 2 diabetes [T2D] and dementia) when provided with varying likelihoods of acquiring the disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  After reading a description of two chronic diseases (i.e. T2D and dementia), 345 student volunteers at McMaster University rated their likelihood of taking a drug that could halve their chance of developing each disease, assuming a 1-year risk of developing the disease of 50%, 25%, and 10%. A five-point Likert scale was used to collect responses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Assuming an annual incidence of 50%, 27% of respondents were neither likely nor very likely to take a therapy that halved the annual incidence of T2D and 13% were neither likely nor very likely to take a therapy that halved the annual incidence of dementia. Higher quoted incidence rates of the disease and a personal history of a chronic illness significantly increased willingness to take such therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high proportion of young educated adults have ambivalent or negative attitudes regarding the use of pharmacological therapy to prevent serious health outcomes even when the absolute 1-year risk of these outcomes is very high.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Katarzyna J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Jerzak
authors.forename: Shelley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pallan
authors.forename: Hertzel C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Gerstein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations
keywords: chronic disease; dementia; diabetes mellitus; medication therapy management; primary prevention; 慢性疾病，痴呆，糖尿病，药物治疗，一级预防