Non-adherence to prescribed medication is a serious limitation of long-term treatment in patients after myocardial infarction (MI), which can be associated with medical, social and economical consequences. Improvement of medication adherence has been shown to be a challenge for healthcare providers. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in medication adherence and variability of adherence determinants during follow-up in patients after MI. A single-center, cohort observational study was conducted in 225 post-MI patients treated with primary coronary intervention (PCI) (27% women and 73% men) aged 30-91 years. Adherence was defined as availability of evaluated drugs within 1-year after discharge from hospital, based on completed prescriptions data obtained from the National Health Fund. The analysis of therapeutic plan realization (adherence to medication prescribed at discharge from hospital) embraced only reimbursed drugs: ACEIs (ramipril, perindopril), P2Y12 receptor inhibitors (clopidogrel) and statins (atorvastatin, simvastatin, rosuvastatin). Sufficient adherence was defined as ≥ 80%. During 1-year follow-up, adherence for all three drug classes was 64 ± 25%, with 67 ± 32% for ACEIs, 62 ± 34% for P2Y12 receptor inhibitor and 64 ± 32% for statins. A gradual decline in adherence was observed from 65% ± 26% in the first quarter of follow-up to 51% ± 34% in the last quarter of follow-up (p < 0.00001). Sufficient adherence for all drugs classes was found only in 29% of patients throughout the whole follow-up period (44% for ACEI, 36% for P2Y12 receptor inhibitor and 41% for statins). According to a multivariate analysis, age, prior CABG, level of education, place of residence, economic status and marital status were independent predictors of drug adherence. Whereas patients > 65 years and having a history of prior CABG more often had an insufficient adherence to drugs, married and hypertensive patients, city inhabitants and patients with higher education tended to have a sufficient drug adherence. Adherence to pharmacotherapy after myocardial infarction decreases over time in a similar manner for all pivotal groups of drugs prescribed after MI. A number of socioeconomic and clinical factors have been identified to affect medication adherence over time. The long-term treatment of patients after myocardial infarction (MI) is based on implementation of a therapeutic plan including lifestyle changes and pharmacotherapy 1-3. According to the of European Society of Cardiology guidelines for the management of patients with acute myocardial infarction, therapy in this subset of patients includes dual antiplatelet treatment (DAPT) for 12 months, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) if ACEI are contraindicated, beta-blockers, and statins 4. However, data available on patient adherence to the therapeutic plan (medication prescribed at discharge from hospital) raise concern. A meta-analysis by Naderi et al. 5 including 20 studies and assessing the extent of adherence ...

Introduction. Patients' adherence to long-term therapies is low. It translates into reduced quality of life and significant deterioration of health economics. Identification of potential barriers of medication-related adherence is a starting point allowing implementation of more advanced interventions directed to adherence improvement. Aim. The purpose of our study was to create and validate a simple instrument used to assess patients' adherence to recommended medications. Material and methods. The Adherence Scale in Chronic Diseases is a self-reported questionnaire with 8 items and with proposed 5 sets of answers. The total score in the Adherence Scale in Chronic Diseases ranges from 0 to 32 points. Three levels of adherence were considered (low: scores of 0 to 20; medium 21 to 25; high > 26). The validation of the questionnaire was conducted in accordance with the validation procedure. Assessment of the internal consistency was performed using a-Cronbach coefficient. In order to conduct the factor analysis, we assessed: the determinant of correlation matrix, Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (K-M-O) statistic and the Bartlett's test of sphericity. Factor analysis was conducted using principal component analysis with Oblimin rotation. The Kaiser criterion and scree plot were used in order to determine components of the questionnaire. Adherence levels were determined based on the percentiles. Results. Grand total of 413 patients with a cardiovascular disease were included in the study. The reliability and homogeneity of the questionnaire were confirmed by a-Cronbach coefficient (0.739). Factor analysis showed that in this questionnaire we can extract two components. The analysis of factor loadings indicated excluding item 2 from the questionnaire. After exclusion of the mentioned item, we repeated the validation procedure. For such a new dataset, according to the Kaiser criterion, only one component was extracted. Conclusions. The Adherence Scale in Chronic Diseases is a practical, reliable, consistent and well validated instrument for identifying specific obstacles to medication adherence. Its simplicity causes that it can be successfully applied in daily practice by health care professionals. Our survey has the potential to improve patient-health care professional communication and relationship.

The readiness for hospital discharge of patients after acute myocardial infarction: a new self-reported questionnaire ABSTRACT Introduction. Medical care providers are responsible for adequate preparation of patients for discharge from the hospital. The purpose of this study was to validate a new self-reported questionnaire assessing the readiness of patients for hospital discharge. The scoring less than 44 points for the entire questionnaire indicates low readiness, obtaining between 44 and 57 points indicates medium readiness, and scores over 57 points are classified as high readiness for discharge from hospital.Conclusions. The validation procedure revealed that RHD MIS is a reliable and homogeneous tool to measure the readiness of patients for hospital discharge. The set of items divided into three subscales allows subjective and objective evaluation of the patient's knowledge and expectations. Further investigation is needed to assess the potential impact of RHD MIS scoring on long-term outcome.

IntroductionA substantial subset of patients after myocardial infarction (MI) discontinue pivotal medication early after discharge. In particular, cessation of antiplatelet treatment may lead to catastrophic ischemic events. Thus, adherence to prescribed medication in patients after MI is an issue of medical and social concern.PurposeThe aim of the study was to evaluate the level of adherence to treatment using a newly developed scale in patients after MI treated with percutaneous coronary intervention.Patients and methodsA single-center, prospective, observational cohort clinical study with a 6-month follow-up was performed. Patients with physical or cognitive impairment, prisoners, soldiers, and family members and coworkers of the researchers were excluded from the study. The impact of selected sociodemographic and clinical factors on adherence was evaluated in 221 patients (63 women and 158 men) aged 30 to 91 years.ResultsThe results obtained with the Adherence in Chronic Diseases Scale (ACDS) ranged from 7 to 28 points; with the average and median scored being 23.35 and 24, respectively. The ACDS score reflects the level of adherence to prescribed medication. The high ACDS scores (>26 points) were obtained in 59 (26.7%) patients, intermediate scores (21–26 points) in 110 (49.8%) and low scores (<21 points) in 52 subjects (23.5%). Acute coronary syndrome (re-ACS) occurred in 18 (8.1%) patients during the follow-up period. The high-level adherence (ACDS score >26 points) was found in 11.1% of patients with re-ACS vs 28.4% of the remaining ones (P=0.1). Lower scores (mean ± standard deviation) in re-ACS patients were found for items 2 and 3 of the ACDS: 3.11±0.68 vs 3.45±0.73 (P=0.02) and 3.28±0.89 vs 3.64±0.64 (P=0.04), respectively.ConclusionAge and previous MI were found to be independent factors influencing adherence assessed with the ACDS.

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