[Therapeutic compliance in the prevention of primary cardiovascular diseases with lovastatine. PRELOVAS study].
OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to compare the therapeutic compliance in two groups of patients treated with lovastatine for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in clinical practice.


METHODS
Observational, prospective and multi-centre study carried out in patients who attended primary care and had a clinical indication to follow treatment with lovastatine for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Four visits were carried out (baseline, at 4-6 weeks, at 6 and 12 months). In the baseline visit, clinical and sociodemographic variables were registered. In visit 2, the investigator counted the number of pills the patients had taken, which together with the results of the Morisky Green Questionnaire allowed him to classify the patients into two groups: Group A (non-compliant patient) and B (compliant patient). Group A received medical advice in order to increase the adherence to treatment.


RESULTS
A total of 815 subjects with indication of lipid-lowering treatment were involved. At the 6 month of follow up, 22% of the subjects from Group A and 63% from Group B had improved their adherence, 38% of the subjects of the group B maintained a good therapeutic compliance during the whole study and 12% of the group A subjects who came up to the final visit improved their compliance during the whole study (p < 0.05). Subjects who showed good compliance with the lipid-lowering treatment along 12 months registered lesser values of cholesterol (128 mg/dl) (p < 0.005).


CONCLUSIONS
It is important to identify non-compliant patients at the beginning of the treatment with lipid-lowering treatment. That makes possible to implement from the very beginning therapeutic measures aimed at improving the therapeutic compliance and allows at the same time to achieve a greater therapeutic effectiveness.
Martín-Castillo
Fidel
F
Unidad de Endocrinología, Hospital de Móstoles, Móstoles, Madrid, Spain.
Ayuga Martínez
Angel
A
Perulero Escobar
Núria
N
Barea Escribano
Noelia
N
D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008148:Lovastatin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011446:Prospective Studies
D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents; D008148:Lovastatin