AIMS: To assess adherence to medical treatment in patients with heart failure (HF) using a specific questionnaire and measurement of the serum concentration of digoxin. METHODS AND RESULTS: Forty patients with symptomatic HF and a clinical indication for digoxin were included in this pilot study. The assessment of adherence to the medical regime was based on two different methods: (i) the CARDIA-Questionnaire and (ii) the measurement of serum digoxin concentration (SDC) at 1 and 6 months. All patients were placed on digoxin treatment (target SDC 0.6-0.8 ng/mL) at baseline. Poor adherence was defined if the patient self-reported taking < or =75% of the prescribed HF medication or had an SDC < 0.4 ng/mL (subtherapeutic range) at the follow-up visits. During the entire follow-up, the proportion of patients with poor adherence was 15% as assessed by the questionnaire, 20% as assessed by the SDC, and 25% if both methods were combined. CONCLUSION: Although HF is a symptomatic disease, the proportion of patients with poor adherence to the medical regime in our study was high (up to 25%). The objective methodology based on the measurement of the SDC identified a higher number of patients with poor adherence when compared with the CARDIA-Questionnaire.
AIMS: To assess adherence to medical treatment in patients with heart failure (HF) using a specific questionnaire and measurement of the serum concentration of digoxin. METHODS AND RESULTS: Forty patients with symptomatic HF and a clinical indication for digoxin were included in this pilot study. The assessment of adherence to the medical regime was based on two different methods: (i) the CARDIA-Questionnaire and (ii) the measurement of serum digoxin concentration (SDC) at 1 and 6 months. All patients were placed on digoxin treatment (target SDC 0.6-0.8 ng/mL) at baseline. Poor adherence was defined if the patient self-reported taking < or =75% of the prescribed HF medication or had an SDC < 0.4 ng/mL (subtherapeutic range) at the follow-up visits. During the entire follow-up, the proportion of patients with poor adherence was 15% as assessed by the questionnaire, 20% as assessed by the SDC, and 25% if both methods were combined. CONCLUSION: Although HF is a symptomatic disease, the proportion of patients with poor adherence to the medical regime in our study was high (up to 25%). The objective methodology based on the measurement of the SDC identified a higher number of patients with poor adherence when compared with the CARDIA-Questionnaire.
Authors: Michael L Alosco; Mary Beth Spitznagel; Ronald Cohen; Lawrence H Sweet; Richard Josephson; Joel Hughes; Jim Rosneck; John Gunstad Journal: J Clin Exp Neuropsychol Date: 2014-10-29 Impact factor: 2.475
Authors: Michael L Alosco; Mary Beth Spitznagel; Manfred van Dulmen; Naftali Raz; Ronald Cohen; Lawrence H Sweet; Lisa H Colbert; Richard Josephson; Joel Hughes; Jim Rosneck; John Gunstad Journal: Psychosom Med Date: 2012-10-31 Impact factor: 4.312
Authors: Joanne Simpson; Colette E Jackson; Caroline Haig; Pardeep S Jhund; Maciej Tomaszewski; Roy S Gardner; Yannis Tsorlalis; Mark C Petrie; John J V McMurray; Iain B Squire; Pankaj Gupta Journal: Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Pharmacother Date: 2021-07-23
Authors: Michael L Alosco; Mary Beth Spitznagel; Ronald Cohen; Lawrence H Sweet; Lisa H Colbert; Richard Josephson; Joel Hughes; Jim Rosneck; John Gunstad Journal: Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs Date: 2013-06-09 Impact factor: 3.908