Adherence to Drug Therapy in Elderly Patients after Hospitalization for Coronary Revascularisation

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is one of the most common cardiovascular diseases and one of the major problems in health areas worldwide. Medication adherence is an important factor preventing CAD development and post PCI cardiac recurrence. This study mainly focuses on adherence to drug therapy in elderly patients discharged from hospital after coronary revascularisation. This is a prospective study conducted for a period of six months in a tertiary care hospital in north malabar region of kerala. Men and women aged greater than or equals to 65yrs with an established cardiovascular disease, patient who had undergone coronary revascularisation were included in the study. Drugs included are statins, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, anti-platelet drugs, anti-coagulants and anti-hypertensives. A total of 101 patients were included in the study of which 66 were males and 35 were females. The prevalence of medication adherence on first follow up was100 % followed by 53.5 % on second follow up 58.4 % on third follow up and 65.3 % on fourth follow up. Medication adherence was found to be improved in third and fourth follow up by applying clinical pharmacist interventions such as medication calendar, telephonic reminding and patient counselling. This study elaborates a prevalence of 69.3 % of adherence in elderly patients after coronary revascularisation. With the implementation of medication calendars, telephonic reminding and patient interviews, an improvement of 5.9 %was found in medication adherence.