Persistence With Lipid-Lowering Therapy: Influence of the Type of Lipid-Lowering Agent and Drug Benefit Plan Option in Elderly Patients

Persistence with Oral Contraceptive Pills Versus Metformin in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

“…More specifically, persistence with either therapy fell from just over 50% at 3 months to about 40% at 6 months and approximately 25% by 1 year. These rates of persistence are slightly lower than reported persistence rates for hypertension therapy, 9 diabetes therapy, 10 and lipid-lowering therapy, 8,23 but similar to persistence rates for antidepressants. 12,24 Although we anticipated that persistence with OCPs might exceed that of metformin, there were no differences in regard to persistence between the two therapies.…”

“…It is known that patients who are undergoing medical therapy for chronic diseases commonly have high rates of both nonadherence and nonpersistence. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Because of its potential to improve biochemical parameters of PCOS and decrease progression to type 2 diabetes, metformin has been emerging as a treatment of choice for women with PCOS, especially those with metabolic syndrome. 1,14 Metformin has common side effects, however, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bloating, and abdominal pain, which may cause a reduction in compliance or persistence or both.…”

Continuation of Statin Treatment and All-Cause Mortality

“…The evaluation of statin continuation in the present study was based on dispensing information, which is the most feasible method of estimating medication use in large populations. 30 However, it does not ensure that the drug is actually consumed, which thus may lead to a nondifferential information bias. However, in one study 31 that compared continuation of statin therapy across 12 months, there was only a small and insignificant difference between the assessed number of dispensed pills (82.3) and the actual pill count (78.7).…”

A “Hot” Topic in Dyslipidemia Management—“How to Beat a Flush”: Optimizing Niacin Tolerability to Promote Long-term Treatment Adherence and Coronary Disease Prevention

“…17,18 One potential obstacle to effective use of lipid therapies is suboptimal treatment adherence and long-term persistence. [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] In recent studies, approximately 53% of niacin users did not reach recommended daily maintenance doses of 1.0 g or higher, 92% did not reach doses of 2 g, and flushing severity significantly predicted niacin treatment discontinuation. 28,29 This systematic review (1) explores the pathophysiology of niacin flushing, (2) characterizes its typical clinical presentation, (3) assesses the approximate frequency of niacin flushing and of discontinuations ascribed to flushing in clinical trials, (4) explores potential strategies to prevent or minimize flushing, and (5) surveys ongoing controversies.…”