Partial compliance in cardiovascular disease: risk implications.

New and more reliable techniques to assess patients' compliance with their prescribed drug regimen have shown that the problem of poor and partial compliance is much greater than was originally anticipated. This paper reviews the new methods available to assess patient compliance and how these methods have revealed new patterns of partial compliance. The problems associated with unrecognised partial compliance in the evaluation of drugs and the assessment of certain clinical problems are also discussed, together with the potential risks to the patient. Finally, this article addresses the issue of minimising the impact of partial compliance by using 'forgiving' drugs, such as longer-acting agents, rather than 'demanding' drugs eg, short-acting agents.