Patient-Reported Reasons for Not Using Primary Prevention Statin Therapy
1
Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
2
College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA
3
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
4
Department of Medicine, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, Sylmar, CA 91342, USA
5
Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(10), 3337; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9103337
Received: 28 August 2020
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Revised: 12 October 2020
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Accepted: 15 October 2020
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Published: 18 October 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Pharmacology)
Almost half of patients who meet American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) criteria for statin therapy are untreated. We aimed to evaluate patient-reported reasons for not using guideline-recommended statin therapy in a public healthcare system. Achieving this goal is key to addressing gaps in care and reducing preventable cardiovascular morbidity. We surveyed patients who met 2013 ACC/AHA guidelines for statin therapy but were not using statins. The survey probed domains of patient knowledge regarding cardiovascular health and benefits of statins, barriers to use, physician trust, and interest in cardiovascular care. Among 71 patients eligible for guideline-recommended statin therapy but not currently taking statins, 49 (69%) had a high school education or lower, 41 (58%) reported that they were unaware they should be prescribed a statin and 49 (69%) were unaware of the benefits of statins. Almost all patients, 70 (99%), reported caring about their cardiovascular health, 61 (86%) reported that they had a high level of trust in their physician, and 51 (72%) reported a willingness to follow their physician’s advice. Despite interest in cardiovascular health, awareness of benefits of statin therapy was low and knowledge of recommended statin therapy was low. Increasing patients’ awareness of their eligibility through systematic testing and linkage to statin therapy, along with education, may increase statin use among patients recommended for therapy.
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Keywords:
statin; underuse; cardiovascular risk; cholesterol
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MDPI and ACS Style
DeWitt, C.M.; Ponce, R.B.; Bry, H.; Wali, S.; Sedlander, E.; Ladapo, J.A. Patient-Reported Reasons for Not Using Primary Prevention Statin Therapy. J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9, 3337. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9103337
AMA Style
DeWitt CM, Ponce RB, Bry H, Wali S, Sedlander E, Ladapo JA. Patient-Reported Reasons for Not Using Primary Prevention Statin Therapy. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2020; 9(10):3337. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9103337
Chicago/Turabian StyleDeWitt, Cassandra M., Robert B. Ponce, Hayley Bry, Soma Wali, Erica Sedlander, and Joseph A. Ladapo. 2020. "Patient-Reported Reasons for Not Using Primary Prevention Statin Therapy" Journal of Clinical Medicine 9, no. 10: 3337. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9103337
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