title: Older people's perceptions of prescription medicine costs and related costs: a pilot study in New Zealand.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Older people tend to take more medicines and prescription medicine costs may influence medicine adherence.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this pilot study was to identify older people's perceptions of prescription medicine costs and related costs in four major cities across New Zealand.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire was administered to people aged 65 years and older visiting pharmacies in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin to identify their perceptions of costs relating to prescription medicines and related pharmacy and general practice services. Data were compared between cities and examined for associations between participants' views on costs and age, sex, income, ethnicity, number of medicines, and monthly cost.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants (N=107) received a median of five prescription medicines (range 1-15), at a median cost of NZ$8.00 (range 0-55.30). Median part-charges for medicines only partly funded by the government were NZ$6.25 (range 0.60-100.00), and GP consultations ranged from NZ$0-60.00. Of the participants, 89 (83.2%) thought medicine costs and 63 (58.9%) thought GP consultation costs were reasonable. Participants with median monthly medicine costs of NZ$8.33-87.00 more commonly perceived medicines as expensive or very expensive (p=0.001, Fisher's exact test).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Older people in this study mostly viewed their prescription medicines and related costs as reasonable; however, 17% and 41%, respectively, found medicines costs and GP consultation costs expensive. Larger, in-depth studies across New Zealand are needed to determine the sections of the population that find these costs expensive, and to explore how this might affect medicine adherence.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. june.tordoff@otago.ac.nz.
authors.forename: June
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tordoff
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bagge
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Farina
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Jie Ning
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Choong
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Rowena
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Joe
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Prasad
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nishtala
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017047:Cost Sharing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005252:Fees, Pharmaceutical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand; D010465:Perception; D010865:Pilot Projects; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000191:economics*; D016903:Drug Monitoring
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs