Short-term prescriptions may be sending the wrong message to elderly cardiac patients, say
Canadian researchers at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Women’s College Hospital.
A study published in the latest
Canadian Journal of Cardiology found that elderly cardiac patients who were given longer initial prescriptions (60 days or more) when leaving the hospital were four times more likely to adhere to their drug regimens than patients prescribed the same medication for 30 days or less.
Taking cardiac medications (such as ACE inhibitors, beta blockers and statins) for the long-term is essential for preventing future cardiac events, say doctors involved in the study.
However, the use of short-term prescriptions to encourage cardiac patients to attend their follow-up appointments may inadvertently suggest to patients and family physicians that long-term adherence isn't necessary, the authors suggest.
Modifying the length of a prescription is an easy fix, says Dr. Noah Ivers, lead author of the study and family physician at Women's College Hospital.