Simons Leon A, Ortiz Michael, Calcino Gordon
University of New South Wales, St Vincent's Hospital, New South Wales.
Aust Fam Physician. 2011 May;40(5):319-22.
Long term persistence on statin drugs has been shown to be unsatisfactory, however, there is little recent Australian data. This study examines current persistence Australia-wide in patients who have been newly prescribed a statin drug.
We conducted a longitudinal assessment of Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme claim records dating from April 2005 to March 2010. Main outcome measures were the proportion of patients who were not filling a first repeat prescription at 1 month, and median persistence time during follow up.
For 77,867 patients initiated to statin, 86% of prescriptions came from general practitioners. Forty-three percent of patients discontinued statin within 6 months, 23% failed to collect their first repeat at 1 month, and median persistence time was only 11 months. In those aged 65--74 years, median persistence time was 19 months but only 3--6 months for those less than 55 years.
Unsatisfactory long term persistence on statin therapy has changed little over the past 10 years. There may be an opportunity for early intervention within 3--4 weeks of initiation to improve persistence, as valuable resources are being wasted and an opportunity for disease prevention missed.
