| PORTLAND, Ore., March 14 (UPI) -- Personal letters sent to heart attack patients increase the likelihood they will take their medication, a U.S. study found. SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, used a randomized trial to determine if direct-to-patient communications enhanced adherence to beta-blocker therapy in patients who had had a myocardial infarction, or heart attack. Personalized letters and educational materials about the importance of continuing prescription drug treatment after a heart attack turned out to be a simple, low-cost way to increase the likelihood of patients adhering to life saving therapies at least four out of every five days. At a cost of $5 to $10 per patient direct-to-patient communication increased the measure of adherence to drug therapy by 17 percent. The study was done by investigators at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore.,, a part of the HMO Research Network Center for Education and Research in Therapeutics, which is funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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