a.  decline in health status;

b.  increase in disease complications;

c.   relapse in case of alcoholism or depression, where we have recurring disease;

d.   an extensive amount of unnecessary hospitalizations. The rate currently for the elderly population suggests somewhere between 9-14% of hospitalizations of older adults are actually due to mismanagement of the pharmacologic component of their treatment regimen;

e.   a significant amount of loss of transplanted organs. In fact 20-25% of organ rejections have been associated with poor compliance with medications that patients are on to suppress the immune system;

f.   disease resistant organisms, particularly in infectious disease areas like HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and infections among children;

g.   death.