Tripathi Raakhi Kaliprasad, Bhilwade Sujeet Krishna, Jalgaonkar Sharmila Vinayak, Kumar Dhiraj, Gitte Pramod
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Department of Cardiology, Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Perspect Clin Res. 2025 Jul-Sep;16(3):143-149. doi: 10.4103/picr.picr_162_24. Epub 2025 May 29.
Treatment adherence is crucial in management of chronic heart failure (HF) to prevent complications (hospitalizations). Patient awareness toward drug treatment is essential to ensure adherence. In addition, there is tendency to self-medicate which can be hazardous in these patients. The present study was planned to evaluate drug treatment awareness, patient tendency to self-medicate and prescription patterns in chronic HF patients.
A cross-sectional, single-center, questionnaire-based study was conducted in the cardiology outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital from April 2021 to November 2022 after obtaining institutional ethics committee permission. Consented patients aged >18 years of either gender with confirmed diagnosis of chronic HF on stable drug treatment were included. Current prescription details were recorded, subsequently patients were administered a prevalidated drug treatment awareness (11-item, score-11) questionnaire and self-medication practice (12-item) questionnaire.
Two hundred and fifty-six HF patients were enrolled and the overall mean treatment awareness score was 5.06 ± 1.77 and content accuracy was poor for names of the prescribed drugs (58/256,23%), dose/frequency (20/256, 8%) and adverse effects (0). Fifty-one percent HF patients indulged in self-medication practices with most common self-medicating drugs being analgesics. The average number of drugs/encounter was 5.95 ± 1.12 and most common class was beta-blockers.
Drug treatment awareness lacked in names, dose, frequency, and adverse effects of the prescribed drugs. Nearly 50% patients indulged in self-medication practices, maximum with analgesics. The most common drug class prescribed was beta-blockers (Metoprolol) followed by angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (Ramipril).
治疗依从性对于慢性心力衰竭（HF）的管理至关重要，可预防并发症（住院）。患者对药物治疗的认知对于确保依从性至关重要。此外，患者存在自我用药的倾向，这对这些患者可能是有害的。本研究旨在评估慢性HF患者的药物治疗认知、自我用药倾向和处方模式。
在获得机构伦理委员会许可后，于2021年4月至2022年11月在一家三级护理医院的心脏病门诊进行了一项横断面、单中心、基于问卷的研究。纳入年龄>18岁、性别不限、确诊为慢性HF且正在接受稳定药物治疗的同意患者。记录当前处方细节，随后对患者进行预先验证的药物治疗认知（11项，评分-11）问卷和自我用药实践（12项）问卷调查。
共纳入256例HF患者，总体平均治疗认知得分为5.06±1.77，所开药物名称（58/256，23%）、剂量/频率（20/256，8%）和不良反应（0）的内容准确性较差。51%的HF患者有自我用药行为，最常用的自我用药药物是镇痛药。每次就诊的平均药物数量为5.95±1.12，最常见的药物类别是β受体阻滞剂。
患者对所开药物的名称、剂量、频率和不良反应缺乏治疗认知。近50%的患者有自我用药行为，最多使用镇痛药。最常用的处方药物类别是β受体阻滞剂（美托洛尔），其次是血管紧张素转换酶抑制剂（雷米普利）。
