ANALYSIS OF PATIENTS’ NONADHERENCE TO STATIN THERAPY FROM CARDIOVASCULAR EVENT TO CARDIOVASCULAR REHABILITATION

Abstract

Numerous studies have pointed to low adherence to statin, which decreases as time period from acute cardiovascular event elapses. The aim was to analyze the cause of not taking statin by patients who were referred to rehabilitation after coronary event. Study population and methods. The research included the total of 573 patients, average age 60.3, while 305 (53.1%) of them were patients who experienced the first cardiovascular event. The stated research was conducted by means of a questionnaire and implied active participation of the researchers in terms of monitoring the possession and use of medication during rehabilitation. On arrival to rehabilitation, 98 (17.1%) patients did not have statin. They stated that they had never used statins before or that they stopped using them shortly after the event. This subgroup had significantly unfavorable values of lipid parameters (p<0.001), abdominal obesity (p<0.01), physical inactivity (p<0.01), more comorbidities (p<0.001), more prescribed medications on daily level (p<0.05), lower education degree level (p<0.01) and lower monthly income (p<0.001). Independent factors for not taking statin were: female gender, low monthly income and large number of comorbidities (R = 0.291, R2 = 0.85, adjusted R² = 0.80, std. error of the estimate = 0.36151; p < 0.001). The patients themselves stated that the first reason for not taking statin was lack of financial funds (45.9%), while the second reason was normalization of laboratory results (21.4%). Three months after acute coronary event, 17.1% of patients in Serbia stopped taking statin. Lower adherence to statin closely correlates with female gender, low financial income and multiple comorbidities.