One of the major problems in cardiology practice is poor adherence to antihypertensive medication. This study aimed to evaluate medication adherence; we also aim to investigate the predictors of intentional and unintentional non-adherence. We issued a survey containing questions about patient demographics, blood pressure control, pharmaceutical care, and adherence level to medication. Retrospective analysis of the prescription database of the National Health Service of the Republic of Latvia was performed. The prevalence of non-adherence was 45.9%. The lowest adherence rate (38.2%) was found among patients taking medication for 2–4.9 years. Even though 84.7% of respondents had a blood pressure monitor at home, only 25.3% of them reported measuring blood pressure regularly. There were differences between the groups of adherent patients in terms of the patients’ net income (p = 0.004), medication co-payments (p = 0.007), and whether the pharmacist offered to reduce the costs of drug therapy (p = 0.002). Roughly half of the prescriptions (50.4%) containing perindopril were purchased by patients from pharmacies. The medication adherence level and blood pressure control at home were assessed as low. Intentionally non-adherent respondents discontinued their medication because of fear of getting used to medicines. The pharmacists’ behaviour in terms of offering to reduce the costs of medications used was influenced by socio-economic factors.

a b s t r a c tIntroduction: Clopidogrel ineffectiveness is a serious problem in antiplatelet therapy. Many factors may contribute to this phenomenon. One of them is clopidogrel drugedrug interaction with CYP2C19 and CYP3A4 enzyme inhibitors. The main goal of this descriptive study was to assess the prevalence of cases of clopidogreledrug interactions in the primary health care physicians' practices. Materials and methods: During 2010e2011, 80 patients receiving clopidogrel antiplatelet therapy from primary care physicians' clinical practices were involved in this study. By using questionnaires and case histories, the following information was collected: Age, gender, clinical diagnoses, and medications used.Results: In the current study, drugs were used that could potentially influence the effect of clopidogrel: Omeprazole, lipophilic statins, calcium channel blockers (CCB). There was a different use of the abovementioned drugs before and after the initiation of the clopidogrel therapy, e.g., 12 (15.0%) and 44 (55.0%) patients used proton pump inhibitors (PPI) before and after the clopidogrel therapy accordingly (P ¼ 0.16; c 2 ¼ 1.91). However, pantoprazole was recommended more often than other PPI. The use of the potential CYP3A4 inhibitors e lipophilic statins and CCB e was increased after the prescription of clopidogrel too. Concomitant use of statins (mainly atorvastatin) with clopidogrel was observed in 75 (93.8%) patients and the use of CCB (mainly amlodipine) e in 33 (41.3%) patients. Conclusion: In the primary health care practices, it is revealed that there is co-medication of clopidogrel with weak CYP3A4 inhibitors, such as lipophilic statins and amlodipine, and with the moderate CYP2C19 inhibitor e omeprazole. The latter co-medication is potentially harmful and it is very important to inform the first care professionals about the opportunity to change omeprazole to pantoprazole, which does not influence clopidogrel biotransformation.

The use of international nonproprietary names (INNs) has been mandatory for prescriptions of state-reimbursed drugs in Latvia since 1 April 2020. In a retrospective analysis, we aimed to examine the impact of the new regulation on changes in the prescribing and dispensing practice of antihypertensive agents with an example of bisoprolol or/and perindopril and their combinations. All state-reimbursed bisoprolol and/or perindopril prescriptions for arterial hypertension were evaluated in two time periods: 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 and 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. The proportion of INN prescriptions increased from 2.1% to 92.3% (p < 0.001, φ = 0.903). The rate of fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) increased from 60.8% to 66.5% (p < 0.001, φ = 0.059). The rate of medication errors was 0.6%. The most common (80.6%) error was that the dispensed medicine dose was larger or smaller than indicated on the prescription. In addition, prescribing an FDC medicine increased the chance of making an error by 2.5 times on average. Regulatory changes dramatically affected the medicine-prescribing habits of INNs. The increase in FDC prescription rates may align with the recommendations of the 2018 ESC/ESH guidelines. The proportion of total errors is estimated as low, but control mechanisms are needed to prevent them.

Background: The problem of nonadherence to therapy is a key reason of insufficient asthma control. Evaluating the beliefs about asthma medication, cognitive and emotional perceptions may help to identify patients with poor adherence to treatment in clinical practice which need additional attention in order to increase the likelihood of them taking their asthma medication according to the prescribed treatment protocol. The purpose of this study is to assess whether beliefs about asthma medication, cognitive and emotional factors are related to poor treatment adherence of asthma medication in a sample of asthma patients in Latvia. Methods:Study subjects were asthma patients attending outpatient pulmonologist consultations in Latvia during September 2013 to December 2015. Beliefs about asthma medicine, cognitive and emotional factors related to asthma were determined in a cross-sectional, self-administered survey. The validated Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) and the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (brief IPQ) were used. Treatment adherence was assessed using 5-item version of the Medication Adherence Reporting Scale (MARS). The total sample size was 352 patients. Logistic regression models were used to predict poor adherence to asthma treatment. The validity of each logistic regression model was assessed by the Hosmer/Lemeshow test. The main outcome measure was self-reported adherence to treatment. Results:The more the patients agreed with the statement "My future health depends on my asthma medication" the lower the possibility of poor adherence to asthma treatment (OR 0.42; 95% CI 0.24-0.74). The more concerned the patients were in regard to long-term effects of their medication (OR 2; 95% CI 1.22-3.27), the higher the probability of poor treatment adherence. Conclusions:Screening asthma patients using the BMQ may help to identify those to benefit from interventions targeting their concerns and medication beliefs in order to improve adherence to asthma medication. Publisher's NoteSpringer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) conversion to sinus rhythm by electrical cardioversion (ECV) is followed by the challenge of preventing arrhythmia recurrence, especially in high-risk patients. The properties of class IC, class III and also class II antiarrhythmic medications have been established, but not all effects have been studied. The aim of the study was to compare efficacy of class IC and class III antiarrhythmic medications, and additionally medication with a class II mechanism of action, or taken concomitantly with a beta-blocker, for post-cardioversion sinus rhythm maintenance in patients with high-risk AF. A total of 112 patients who underwent successful ECV in Latvian Centre of Cardiology were included. Data was acquired by a face-to-face interview and 1-, 3-, 6-month follow-up interviews. Comparing class IC (used by 34.8%) and class III (used by 65.2%) drugs, there was no statistically significant difference between six-month sinus rhythm maintenance rates (53.8% vs. 63.0%, p = 0.346) and arrhythmia-free survival (p = 0.313). Comparing amiodarone (used by 57.1%) and ethacizine, concurrently with a beta-blocker (used by 25.9%), no statistically significant difference was found between six-month sinus rhythm maintenance (64.1% vs. 58.6%, p = 0.616) and arrhythmia-free survival (p = 0.706). The results showed that specific antiarrhythmic drug choice was not associated with superior effectiveness, highlighting that, if not contraindicated, ethacizine, concomitantly with a beta-blocker, could be used as a similarly effective alternative for amiodarone, which has adverse health effects.