Medical aspects of delayed convalescence.

Disease and illness are not synonymous. In most instances, disease is demonstrable by anatomic, physiologic, biochemical, microbiologic, or immunologic abnormalities. Disease is a pathologic process. Not all persons with a disease are sick or ill. Symptoms of illness associated with a disease may be manifest or persist after the disease has disappeared. The absence of demonstrable disease, however, does not necessarily mean that symptoms of illness are unreal. Recovery from disease and recovery from illness are not always equated. Many factors, including personal characteristics and social circumstances, can be responsible for recovery from disease and illness. Chronic fatigue syndrome or symptoms of illness can persist in some patients but not in others after many different diseases.

Patient compliance: changing patterns of disease and health care costs.

Most of the drugs in our therapeutic armamentarium are effective and have contributed significantly to the health of Americans. Whereas patient compliance relating to prescribed medications has always been an issue, the impact of patient compliance--or noncompliance--on health care expenditures has added a new dimension to the controversy. Because of the growth of chronic care, physicians need to prescribe long-term drug therapy that patients will administer themselves. Patients must be motivated to ensure compliance with treatment regimens that health care professionals prescribe or dispense.