One study showed that only 40 percent comply with therapy. Many patients openly admit they do not take their medications as prescribed. In IBD, the issue of noncompliance is not only confined to medications, but other behaviors as well. According to the American Heart Association, the number one problem in treating illness today is the failure of the patient to take prescription medications correctly, and more than half of all Americans with chronic diseases don't follow their physician's medication and lifestyle guidance. This issue may be growing because more people are suffering from chronic illnesses.
Acute disease appears suddenly and lasts a short time, such as an injury or infection.
Now that chronic disease has become the principal medical problem, the patient must become a partner in the process, contributing at almost every decision or action level. Chronic diseases persist, although they may calm down or flare up, and include IBD, diabetes, asthma, and arthritis. In acute disease, the goal of treatment is to return the patient's life to normal. In chronic disease, the person's life is changed forever, and the disease itself changes over time. Holman and Lorig.