Poor compliance leads to complications
14th February 2012
By Staff writer
A study involving more than 200,000 patients prescribed an antihypertensive in 2003 found 37.5% ceased treatment almost immediately.
By 2008, patients who discontinued had a 7% increased rate of hospitalisation for a cardiovascular (CV) event compared to those never prescribed an antihypertensive.
“Similar findings were obtained for [patients discontinuing] antidiabetic or lipid-lowering medications for which the… difference in CV rate was even greater (+21% and +18% respectively),” the authors said.
Am J Hypertens 2012, online 26 Jan
