Does your Medication Look Different? Changing Color, Shape may Increase Risk of Lapses

The size, shape and color of a medication may be dependent on its manufacturer. For instance, your regular cholesterol medication could go from an oblong, oval-shaped pill, to a more circular structure. Though these seemingly trivial differences do not affect the potency of the medication, a recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine has shown that for some, a change like this could prevent patients from regularly taking their medications.

For the study, lead researcher Aaron Kesselheim, an internal medicine specialist and pharmacoepidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, observed what happened when the size, color and/or shape of some patients medications were changed. In the study, researchers tracked 11,513 patients with heart disease who were hospitalized between 2006 and 2011 due to heart attack. When they were discharged, they were all prescribed medications to help with cardiovascular issues.

From the sample, 29 percent had pills that changed shape and color throughout the duration of the experiment; this meant that statins had the most changes in appearance while beta blockers dealt with the least.

Researchers found that many of the patients whose pills had switched appearance were more likely to stop taking their medications than those whose did not.  Furthermore, findings revealed that patients with pills that had been changed were 66 percent more likely to stop using their medications all together.

As this latest study examined heat attack victims, a recent study also focused on the changing appearance of epilepsy drugs. Similar to the current findings, researchers found that various changes could increase the risk of stopping the medication. However, some appearance factors were more likely to cause this problem than others. For instance, previous findings showed that changes in a pills shape had a greater impact than its color, alone.

Regardless of any physical changes to medication, this should never affect their ability to help those who need them. Furthermore, stopping them could exaserpate an existing health issue or lead to fatal consequences. 

"After patients have a first heart attack, guidelines mandate treatment with an array of long-term medications and stopping these medications may ultimately increase morbidity and mortality," Kesselheim said.