Self-reported data on medication adherence regarding lipid lowering drugs, antihypertensives and glucose lowering drugs in family medicine in Croatia

Ino Kermc, Pero Hrabac, Venija Cerovečki, Jure Samardzic, Zeljko Reiner, Davor Milicic

Keywords: Medication adherence, Person-centred care in family medicine

Background:

Person-centred care is an approach to healthcare that focuses on the individual needs and preferences of the patient. It includes actively involving the patient in their own care, decision-making and tailoring treatment plans to meet their needs and goals. Medication adherence is an important aspect of person-centred care. It ensures that the patient can follow their treatment plan and achieve the best possible outcomes.

Research questions:

Do patients, from their point of view, follow the doctor's instructions regarding prescribed lipid lowering drugs, antihypertensives and glucose lowering drugs?

Method:

We used medication adherence data from the questionnaire used in primary care arm of the EUROASPIRE V survey done in Croatia. Questionnaire was self-administered by the patients taking antihypertensives, glucose or lipid lowering drugs. They were asked how often they took their medications as the doctor prescribed. The possible answers were: all of the time(100%), early all of the time(90%), most of the time(75%), about half the time(50%), less than half the time(<50%).

Results:

In total 198 patients answered the questions, 85 regarding lipid lowering drugs, 156 regarding antihypertensives and 58 regarding glucose lowering drugs. In that order 49.41%, 56.41% and 53.45% answered taking medications as doctor prescribed all of the time while 36.47%, 29.49% and 27.59% took it nearly all of the time. In contrast, only 1.92% answered taking antihypertensives about half the time but 5.17% and 3.45% answered taking glucose lowering drugs about half the time or less. Regarding the lipid lowering drugs, the 4.71% and 1.18% patients reported taking them for about half the time and less.

Conclusions:

While majority of the patients reported high levels of adherence there is still a significant part of them who are not taking their medications regularly, especially with glucose lowering drugs. Person-centred care, a core value in family medicine, is an important tool to address that problem.

Points for discussion:

Medication adherence

Person-centred care in family medicine