Statin adherence and medication knowledge among Ischemic Heart disease Patients at a Tertiary Hospital in Northern Sri Lanka

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is a major public health issue that accounts for 30% of all fatalities worldwide. Poor adherence to statin medication has been linked to poor clinical outcomes and increased healthcare costs. This study was carried out to assess the knowledge and adherence to statins and the association of selected factors among ischemic heart disease (IHD) patients attending the tertiary hospital Jaffna. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among IHD patients using statins. Patients who were above 18 years old and who had taken statins for at least the past three months were selected. A systematic sampling technique was used to recruit patients. An interviewer- administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 25. The Chi-square test and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to assess the association between adherence and variables. Individuals who answered “0 days” to all three adherence questions were considered as high adherence; those who reported they forgot to take statin at least once in the previous week were considered as medium adherence, and those who reported that they purposefully added or missed statin for one day or more in the last week were considered as low adherence. A p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The response rate was 97.28% (n=430). 43.7% of patients showed medium adherence, 38.4% showed high adherence, and 17.9% showed low adherence. The mean statin knowledge score of patients was 6.31 (SD±1.51). Statins’ knowledge (p=0.001), clinic visits (p=0.023), polypharmacy (p=0.038), support from family members/caregivers (p=0.014), and co-morbidities (p=0.034) showed statistically significant association with medication adherence. Conclusion: Adherence to statins and medication knowledge among patients was suboptimal. Statin adherence could be improved by considering associated factors in this study.