Heart Attack Patients Are Not Taking Their Medications like They Should
Regina Sass
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A study from the Mayo Clinic shows that more than 50% of heart attack patients stop taking their lifesaving prescription medications within three years of suffering their heart attack. 
The study also shows that, at least in the short term, those who smoke are the ones who are most likely to stop all of their heart medication, and in the long term it is those who are enrolled in a cardiac rehabilitation program are the ones who have a higher percentage who continue taking the prescriptions.
Based on the results, they have come up with a double-barreled approach to improve the situation. The first one is to focus on heart attack patients who are smokers and get them the information they need about the importance of going along with the doctors recommendations and the second one is to talk to all heart attack patients and try to get them to participate in some type of cardiac rehabilitation program, since the ones in this type of program are the ones who are more likely than not to continue taking their medications.
The purpose of the study was to improve the rate of recovery as well as the quality of life for heart attack patients by seeing how well they follow instructions.
They followed the patients at the 6, 12, and 36 month levels after a heart attack and the patients had a variety of reasons why they stopped taking the medications, such as the cost. There were 292 participants in the study, all of whom were enrolled in the Olmsted County, Minn., registry of patients who had had acute heart attacks and were prescribed ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers and statins, all of which are used to prevent heart attacks, when they were releases from the hospital.
The facts they came up with include:
At the six-month level, the smokers were much less likely to be still taking all three of the medications.
Also at the six-month level they found that 92% of those who were taking statins were still taking them, but at the three-year mark, it had dropped to just 44%.
It was pretty much the same story with the ones taking the beta blocker combination. At the six-month level, 89% were still taking their medications and that the three-year level it was down to 47%.
Heart Attack Patients Are Not Taking Their Medications like They Should
The study also shows that, at least in the short term, those who smoke are the ones who are most likely to stop all of their heart medication, and in the long term it is those who are enrolled in a cardiac rehabilitation program are the ones who have a higher percentage who continue taking the prescriptions.
Based on the results, they have come up with a double-barreled approach to improve the situation. The first one is to focus on heart attack patients who are smokers and get them the information they need about the importance of going along with the doctors recommendations and the second one is to talk to all heart attack patients and try to get them to participate in some type of cardiac rehabilitation program, since the ones in this type of program are the ones who are more likely than not to continue taking their medications.
The purpose of the study was to improve the rate of recovery as well as the quality of life for heart attack patients by seeing how well they follow instructions.
They followed the patients at the 6, 12, and 36 month levels after a heart attack and the patients had a variety of reasons why they stopped taking the medications, such as the cost. There were 292 participants in the study, all of whom were enrolled in the Olmsted County, Minn., registry of patients who had had acute heart attacks and were prescribed ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers and statins, all of which are used to prevent heart attacks, when they were releases from the hospital.
The facts they came up with include:
At the six-month level, the smokers were much less likely to be still taking all three of the medications.
Also at the six-month level they found that 92% of those who were taking statins were still taking them, but at the three-year mark, it had dropped to just 44%.
It was pretty much the same story with the ones taking the beta blocker combination. At the six-month level, 89% were still taking their medications and that the three-year level it was down to 47%.