Survey on the Impact of Pill Color on Medication Adherence

Objectives: The color and physical appearance of pills influence people’s expectations of their effectiveness, alongside their actual medicinal purpose. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate how pill color influences medication adherence. Materials and Methods: This questionnaire-based survey was conducted among Indian patients visiting cardiologists with cardiovascular diseases. Patients were asked to fill out a form that included 9 questions designed to assess the impact of pill color on drug adherence. In addition, demographic characteristics of the patients were collected. Results: A total of 901 patients were included in the study. Approximately 91% of the 876 patients reported that they were taking medications that needed to be taken daily. When taking multiple pills, 29.4% of patients remember the medication by the pill color, 28.4% remember by the strip color, and 28.0% remember by the brand name. The proportion of patients aged >50 years who reported that similar-looking medications confused identifying their medication was significantly higher compared to those aged ≤50 years (63.2% vs. 50.5%; P < 0.001). When managing multiple medications, female patients primarily relied on pill color (33.1% vs. 26.6%) and strip color (30.7% vs. 26.4%) for identification compared to male patients. The proportion of patients with a high school education who believed that unique pill colors could help in easy identification, reduce forgetfulness, and enhance medication adherence was significantly higher compared to those with a college education and above ( P < 0.001). Conclusion: This study emphasizes that pill color significantly aids in medication identification and adherence, particularly among older adults, women, and individuals with lower educational levels.