Klin Farmakol Farm. 2008;22(1):15-17

The evaluation of compliance in patients on aspirin prevention

Ján Rajec¹, Milan Kriška^2,3, Adriana Bublová⁴

¹ II. interná klinika LF UK, FN Bratislava

² Farmakologický ústav Lekárskej fakulty UK, Bratislava

³ Nemocnica s poliklinikou Považská Bystrica

⁴ Klinika vnútorného lekárstva 2, FNsP Nové Zámky

Preventive antithrombotic therapy plays an important role in the prevention of acute complications of cardiovascular (CV) diseases. The low dose aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) as an antiplatelet agent is still a key drug in primary and secondary CV prevention. Its efficacy in the reduction of clinical events was proved by EBM (evidence based medicine). However, it has been shown that aspirin doesn`t always provide the expected protection. We often face the problem of the failure of aspirin prevention. A clinically and biochemically defined term called aspirin resistance has appeared. Its real prevalence and clinical importance still remain uncertain. There are discussed several causative factors of this phenomenon. Patients´ non-compliance and drug interactions seem to be the most significant. In our pilot study we used the method of structured questionnaire to assess the level of compliance in hospitalised patients taking low dose aspirin. Our results confirmed that non-compliance as a relevant causative factor might significantly contribute to the reduced aspirin efficacy. The improvement of communication between patients and health care professionals is essential to improve the level of compliance and thus achieve better results in CV prevention.

Keywords: Key words: aspirin, the failure of the aspirin prevention, non-compliance, education.

Published: April 1, 2008  Show citation