Prevalence of pharmacological adherence in patients with coronary artery disease and associated factors.
Jaqueline Correia Padilha, Vinicius Batista Santos, Camila Takao Lopes and 1 others
PMID 34495187WHAT IT FOUND
Most hospitalized patients with coronary artery disease did not take medications as prescribed, often forgetting.
Nurses should ask about alcohol use, how complex the medication routine feels, and whether care is through public services.
Key findings
01All 198 eligible patients agreed to participate, and 113 (57.1%) were non-adherent.
02Among non-adherent patients, 99 (87.6%) reported forgetting to take medication on time.
03Patients who drank alcohol had a 2.88 times greater chance of non-adherence than those who did not drink.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done in one hospital, so the results may not apply to other settings. Adherence was measured by patient self-report, and social desirability may have overestimated adherence. The design was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that fatigue, palpitation, alcohol use, complex treatment or health care access caused adherence differences. Only hospitalized patients who were well enough to be interviewed were included; those with chest pain, dyspnea or symptomatic hypotension were excluded. The study did not use objective measures such as serum drug levels or electronic dose monitoring.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the three-fold increase in adherence among patients with fatigue and palpitation, or the 2.88 times greater chance of non-adherence among drinkers, as proof of cause. The study was cross-sectional, single-center, and used self-reported medication taking.