Vnitr Lek 2017, 63(10):663-666 | DOI: 10.36290/vnl.2017.129

Is it possible to improve long-term compliance of patients to statin therapy?

Vladimír Soška^1,2,3,*, Ondřej Kyselák¹

¹ Oddělení klinické biochemie FN u sv. Anny v Brně

² Katedra laboratorních metod LF MU Brno a II. interní klinika LF MU a FN u sv. Anny v Brně

³ Katedra laboratorních metod LF MU, Brno

Statins are key drugs for patients in secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, as well as for primary prevention patients at high or very high risk of fatal cardiovascular events. However, long-term compliance of patients to statin therapy is relatively low, decreasing with the time of statin use; moreover a significant proportion of patients stop statins medication over the course of several years. To the early termination of statin treatment often contributes apprehension of the occurence of statin's side effects (i.g. increased creatine kinase in the blood and muscle problems), although these symptoms are usually not causally related to statin therapy. To the low compliance may also contribute administration of statins in the evening hours, as well as the fear of developing diabetes or drug interactions. The above issues are discussed in the text of this article.

Keywords: compliance; creatinkinase; diabetes mellitus; LDL-cholesterol; statins

Received: August 14, 2017; Accepted: September 9, 2017; Published: October 1, 2017  Show citation