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Depression after ischemic stroke associated with low adherence to secondary prevention
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Patients who survived an ischemic stroke and were diagnosed with depression were less likely to adhere to key secondary prevention drugs compared with those without depression, according to data presented at the International Stroke Conference.
William P. Neil, MD, vascular neurologist at Southern California Permanente Medical Group in San Diego, and colleagues analyzed data from 9,933 patients with ischemic stroke from a multicenter database with information obtained from pharmacy records and electronic medical records.
Patients presented to one of 11 centers in California and had filled at least two medications for stroke prevention from 2007 to June 2015. Researchers calculated adherence for hypoglycemic, antihypertensive and lipid-lowering medications.
Of the patients in this study, 2,019 were diagnosed with depression after the index stroke. According to continuous medication gap methodology, adherence was 0.22 in patients without depression (standard deviation ± 0.29) and 0.28 in those with depression (standard deviation ± 0.32; P < .0001).
“Poor medication adherence among depressed stroke patients may be an important contributor to their relatively poorer clinical outcomes,” Neil and colleagues wrote. – by Darlene Dobkowski
Reference:
Neil WP, et al. Session MP15: Community/Risk Factors Moderated Poster Tour II. Presented at: International Stroke Conference; Feb. 6-8, 2019; Honolulu.
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.