Patient-reported medication adherence barriers among patients with cardiovascular risk factors.

Abstract

Background

Many patients experience barriers that make it difficult to take cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related medications as prescribed. The Cardiovascular Intervention Improvement Telemedicine Study (CITIES) was a tailored behavioral pharmacist-administered and telephone-based intervention for reducing CVD risk.

Objectives

To (a) describe patient-reported barriers to taking their medication as prescribed and (b) evaluate patient-level characteristics associated with reporting medication barriers.

Methods

We recruited patients receiving care at primary care clinics affiliated with Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Eligible patients were diagnosed with hypertension and/or hyperlipidemia that were poorly controlled (blood pressure of > 150/100 mmHg and/or low-density lipoprotein value > 130 mg/dL). At the time of enrollment, patients completed an interview with 7 questions derived from a validated medication barriers measure. Patient characteristics and individual medication treatment barriers are described. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine the association between a medication barrier score and patient characteristics.

Results

Most patients (n = 428) were married or living with their partners (57%) and were men (85%) who were diagnosed with hypertension and hyperlipidemia (64%). The most commonly reported barriers were having too much medication to take (31%) and forgetting whether medication was taken at a particular time (24%). In adjusted analysis, those who were not employed (1.32, 95% CI = 0.50-2.14) or did not have someone to help with tasks, if needed (1.66, 95% CI = 0.42-2.89), reported higher medication barrier scores. Compared with those diagnosed with hypertension and hyperlipidemia, those with only hypertension (0.91, 95% CI = 0.04-1.79) reported higher medication barrier scores.

Conclusions

Barriers to medication adherence are common. Evaluating and addressing barriers may increase medication adherence.

Department

Description

Provenance

Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.18553/jmcp.2015.21.6.479

Publication Info

Zullig, Leah L, Karen M Stechuchak, Karen M Goldstein, Maren K Olsen, Felicia M McCant, Susanne Danus, Matthew J Crowley, Eugene Z Oddone, et al. (2015). Patient-reported medication adherence barriers among patients with cardiovascular risk factors. Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy, 21(6). pp. 479–485. 10.18553/jmcp.2015.21.6.479 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/29986.

This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.

Scholars@Duke

Zullig

Leah L Zullig

Professor in Population Health Sciences

Leah L. Zullig, PhD, MPH is a health services researcher and an implementation scientist. She is a Professor in the Duke Department of Population Health Sciences and an investigator with the Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT) at the Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Dr. Zullig’s overarching research interests address three domains: improving cancer care delivery and quality; promoting cancer survivorship and chronic disease management; and improving medication adherence. Throughout these three area of foci Dr. Zullig uses an implementation science lens with the goal of providing equitable care for all by implementing evidence-based practices in a variety of health care environments. She has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications. 

Dr. Zullig completed her BS in Health Promotion, her MPH in Public Health Administration, and her PhD in Health Policy.

Areas of expertise: Implementation Science, Health Measurement, Health Policy, Health Behavior, Telehealth, and Health Services Research

Goldstein

Karen M. Goldstein

Associate Professor of Medicine

Dr. Goldstein's research interests include women's health, cardiovascular risk reduction, evidence synthesis methodology and peer support.

Olsen

Maren Karine Olsen

Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics

Health services research, longitudinal data methods, missing data methods

Crowley

Matthew Janik Crowley

Associate Professor of Medicine

Diabetes, Hypertension, Health Services Research

Oddone

Eugene Zaverio Oddone

Professor Emeritus of Medicine

I am a health services researcher whose primary research interests are: 1) evaluating the effectiveness of primary care with an emphasis on chronic disease, 2) assessing the reasons and testing interventions to reduce racial variation in access the health care and utilization of health services, 3) determining appropriate interventions to improve blood pressure control for hypertensive patients treated in primary care. I have research expertise in racial variation, blood pressure control, disease management, and tele-medicine. I also have methodologic expertise in designing and testing health services interventions in multi-site clinical trials.

Key words: primary care, racial variation, quality of care, hypertension

Bosworth

Hayden Barry Bosworth

Professor in Population Health Sciences

Dr. Bosworth is a health services researcher and Deputy Director of the Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT)  at the Durham VA Medical Center. He is also Vice Chair of Education and Professor of Population Health Sciences. He is also a Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Nursing at Duke University Medical Center and Adjunct Professor in Health Policy and Administration at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests comprise three overarching areas of research: 1) clinical research that provides knowledge for improving patients’ treatment adherence and self-management in chronic care; 2) translation research to improve access to quality of care; and 3) eliminate health care disparities. 

Dr. Bosworth is the recipient of an American Heart Association established investigator award, the 2013 VA Undersecretary Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research (The annual award is the highest honor for VA health services researchers), and a VA Senior Career Scientist Award. In terms of self-management, Dr. Bosworth has expertise developing interventions to improve health behaviors related to hypertension, coronary artery disease, and depression, and has been developing and implementing tailored patient interventions to reduce the burden of other chronic diseases. These trials focus on motivating individuals to initiate health behaviors and sustaining them long term and use members of the healthcare team, particularly pharmacists and nurses. He has been the Principal Investigator of over 30 trials resulting in over 400 peer reviewed publications and four books. This work has been or is being implemented in multiple arenas including Medicaid of North Carolina, private payers, The United Kingdom National Health System Direct, Kaiser Health care system, and the Veterans Affairs.

Areas of Expertise: Health Behavior, Health Services Research, Implementation Science, Health Measurement, and Health Policy


Unless otherwise indicated, scholarly articles published by Duke faculty members are made available here with a CC-BY-NC (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial) license, as enabled by the Duke Open Access Policy. If you wish to use the materials in ways not already permitted under CC-BY-NC, please consult the copyright owner. Other materials are made available here through the author’s grant of a non-exclusive license to make their work openly accessible.