Sub-optimal statin adherence increases mortality risk

Statin treatment is implemented to decrease mortality amongst people with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Researchers have recently used a very large cohort study to explore the association between statin adherence and mortality in these patients. The primary outcome was all cause mortality adjusted for demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as adherence to other cardiac medications. The cohort involved over 347,000 subjects: those treated with moderate-intensity statin therapy were more adherent than patients taking high-intensity statin therapy (odds ratio [OR], 1.18; 95% CI, 1.16-1.20). Adherence was less with women than men (OR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.84-0.94) and people in ethnic minority groups. Younger and older patients were less likely to be adherent compared with adults aged 65 to 74 years. During follow-up, there were 85 930 deaths (24.8%). Compared with the most adherent patients, those who were less adherent to prescribed treatment had a hazard ratio (HR; adjusted for clinical characteristics and adherence to other cardiac medications) of 1.30 (95% CI, 1.27-1.34). It seems that more needs to be done improve adherence to with these agents. Read more detail here