Association of Continuity of Primary Care and Statin Adherence.

<h4>Purpose</h4>Deficiencies in medication adherence are a major barrier to effectiveness of chronic condition management. Continuity of primary care may promote adherence. We assessed the association of continuity of primary care with adherence to long-term medication as exemplified by...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: James R Warren, Michael O Falster, Bich Tran, Louisa Jorm
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0140008&type=printable
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850189287936491520
author James R Warren
Michael O Falster
Bich Tran
Louisa Jorm
author_facet James R Warren
Michael O Falster
Bich Tran
Louisa Jorm
author_sort James R Warren
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Purpose</h4>Deficiencies in medication adherence are a major barrier to effectiveness of chronic condition management. Continuity of primary care may promote adherence. We assessed the association of continuity of primary care with adherence to long-term medication as exemplified by statins.<h4>Research design</h4>We linked data from a prospective study of 267,091 Australians aged 45 years and over to national data sets on prescription reimbursements, general practice claims, hospitalisations and deaths. For participants having a statin dispense within 90 days of study entry, we computed medication possession ratio (MPR) and usual provider continuity index (UPI) for the subsequent two years. We used multivariate Poisson regression to calculate the relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the association between tertiles of UPI and MPR adjusted for socio-demographic and health-related patient factors, including age, gender, remoteness of residence, smoking, alcohol intake, fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, prior heart disease and speaking a language other than English at home. We performed a comparison approach using propensity score matching on a subset of the sample.<h4>Results</h4>36,144 participants were eligible and included in the analysis among whom 58% had UPI greater than 75%. UPI was significantly associated with 5% increased MPR for statin adherence (95% CI 1.04-1.06) for highest versus lowest tertile. Dichotomised analysis using a cut-off of UPI at 75% showed a similar effect size. The association between UPI and statin adherence was independent of socio-demographic and health-related factors. Stratification analyses further showed a stronger association among those who were new to statins (RR 1.33, 95% CI 1.15-1.54).<h4>Conclusions</h4>Greater continuity of care has a positive association with medication adherence for statins which is independent of socio-demographic and health-related factors.
format Article
id doaj-art-0d2de4f2c53e45eab1c25ff825cf381a
institution OA Journals
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2015-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-0d2de4f2c53e45eab1c25ff825cf381a2025-08-20T02:15:38ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-011010e014000810.1371/journal.pone.0140008Association of Continuity of Primary Care and Statin Adherence.James R WarrenMichael O FalsterBich TranLouisa Jorm<h4>Purpose</h4>Deficiencies in medication adherence are a major barrier to effectiveness of chronic condition management. Continuity of primary care may promote adherence. We assessed the association of continuity of primary care with adherence to long-term medication as exemplified by statins.<h4>Research design</h4>We linked data from a prospective study of 267,091 Australians aged 45 years and over to national data sets on prescription reimbursements, general practice claims, hospitalisations and deaths. For participants having a statin dispense within 90 days of study entry, we computed medication possession ratio (MPR) and usual provider continuity index (UPI) for the subsequent two years. We used multivariate Poisson regression to calculate the relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the association between tertiles of UPI and MPR adjusted for socio-demographic and health-related patient factors, including age, gender, remoteness of residence, smoking, alcohol intake, fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, prior heart disease and speaking a language other than English at home. We performed a comparison approach using propensity score matching on a subset of the sample.<h4>Results</h4>36,144 participants were eligible and included in the analysis among whom 58% had UPI greater than 75%. UPI was significantly associated with 5% increased MPR for statin adherence (95% CI 1.04-1.06) for highest versus lowest tertile. Dichotomised analysis using a cut-off of UPI at 75% showed a similar effect size. The association between UPI and statin adherence was independent of socio-demographic and health-related factors. Stratification analyses further showed a stronger association among those who were new to statins (RR 1.33, 95% CI 1.15-1.54).<h4>Conclusions</h4>Greater continuity of care has a positive association with medication adherence for statins which is independent of socio-demographic and health-related factors.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0140008&type=printable
spellingShingle James R Warren
Michael O Falster
Bich Tran
Louisa Jorm
Association of Continuity of Primary Care and Statin Adherence.
PLoS ONE
title Association of Continuity of Primary Care and Statin Adherence.
title_full Association of Continuity of Primary Care and Statin Adherence.
title_fullStr Association of Continuity of Primary Care and Statin Adherence.
title_full_unstemmed Association of Continuity of Primary Care and Statin Adherence.
title_short Association of Continuity of Primary Care and Statin Adherence.
title_sort association of continuity of primary care and statin adherence
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0140008&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT jamesrwarren associationofcontinuityofprimarycareandstatinadherence
AT michaelofalster associationofcontinuityofprimarycareandstatinadherence
AT bichtran associationofcontinuityofprimarycareandstatinadherence
AT louisajorm associationofcontinuityofprimarycareandstatinadherence