Abstract
Patient drug adherence is a major problém aspecially in the prevention of cardiovascular disease of atherosclerotic origin. On one hand, antihypertensive drugs and hypolipidemic drugs/statins, are among the most successful, ones the other hand, they are among the drugs which are most frequently skipped by the patients.
Improvement could be realised by the education of patients, more frequent follow-ups, as well as by the use of new technologies involving specific dispensers and other, even more sophisticated methods. Nevertheless, among the most succesful strategies is simplification of medication, particularly the use of drugs with a longer hlf-life and the use of combination of several drugs in a single tablet.
Therefore, we have a quite wide range of options to improve patient compliance.. However, some disadvantages should be kept in mind associated with these techniques.
The aim of this article is to discuss potential problems and solutions associated with patient adherernce/compliance with respect to antihypertensive and hypolipidemic treatment with an emphasis on practical approach.