Influence of side effect information on patient willingness to take medication: consequences for informed consent and medication adherence

Abstract

Medication side effect information can create negative patient expectations of side effects, but such information is considered crucial to informed consent. The current study investigated the effect of informing participants of different numbers of medication side effects. Willingness to take the medication was highest for those informed of one or four compared with none or 26 side effects, and memory of side effects was also more accurate. Findings suggest that informing patients of some, but not several, side effects may optimise both medication adherence and accuracy of informed consent.