[Factors involved in the non-compliance of the pharmacologic treatment of dyslipidemia].

OBJECTIVES

To find how much non-compliance with lipid-lowering drug treatment there is, its causes and to describe the profile of non-compliant patients.

DESIGN

Prospective study.

SETTING

Primary Care Centres in the province of Alicante.

PATIENTS

107 patients under drugs treatment for lipaemic disorders and belonging to live General Medical practices.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

To evaluate compliance, the method of a surprise count of pills in the patient's home was used. Compliant patients were defined as those with between 80 and 110% compliance. 46.7% were non-compliant (C.I. 37.3-56.2), with 42% under-compliant and 4.7% over. Forgetfulness and unawareness accounted for 68% of the reasons for non-compliance. Associated factors were: moderate to high cardiovascular risk (p = 0.03), stating that the drug treatment was followed badly (p = 0.01), less than a year in regular treatment (p = 0.006), monitoring lipaemia poorly (p = 0.003).

CONCLUSIONS

Non-compliance with pharmacological treatment in patients with lipaemia is high. Its causes are known, as are several factors associated to non-compliance which could be used to identify the non-complier.