Directorate of Medical Policy, Pharmacy Policies and Standards, National Defence Medical Centre Building, 2nd Floor, 1745 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0K6, Canada.
This study was performed to quantify adherence rates to lipid-lowering drug therapy among members of the Canadian Forces (CF) and to identify factors associated with nonadherence.
Pharmacy claims were reviewed for all CF members who received a lipid-lowering drug between April 1 and June 1, 2003. Subjects were categorized as adherent if records indicated consumption of at least 80% of prescribed doses. Logistic regression was performed to assess the impact of patient and drug characteristics upon adherence.
Overall adherence rate at 1 year was 38.5% among all users of lipid-lowering medications. Adherence did not vary among the different classes of lipid-lowering drugs. Duration of service was the only independent predictor of adherence.
Despite a relative lack of treatment barriers and the presence of established treatment programs in the CF health care system, long-term adherence with lipid-lowering medications remains suboptimal in this population.