Can adherence to antihypertensive therapy be used to promote adherence to statin therapy?

Richard H Chapman1, Elise M Pelletier1, Paula J Smith1, Craig S Roberts21US Health Economics and Outcomes Research, IMS Health, Falls Church, VA, USA; 2Global Outcomes Research, Pfizer Inc, New York, NY, USAObjective: To compare adherence with statin therapy in patients switching to single-pill amlodipine besylate/atorvastatin calcium with patients adding a separate statin to their amlodipine regimen.Methods: We identified hypertensive patients prescribed amlodipine who switched to amlodipine/atorvastatin (switch) or added a statin to their amlodipine regimen (add-on) from July 2004 to June 2007. Propensity score matching (1 switch:3 add-on) was applied based on ‘nearest neighbor’ approach. The primary adherence measure was patients with proportion of days covered (PDC) ≥0.80 at 180 days; secondary measures included mean PDC and persistence. A sensitivity analysis was performed, accounting for total statin/amlodipine exposure.Results: Among 4556 matched patients (n = 1139 switch; n = 3417 add-on), mean age was 53.9 years and 52.1% were male. After 180 days, adherence with statin therapy was higher for the switch vs add-on cohort (50.8% vs 44.3%; P < 0.001). After adjusting for pre-index amlodipine adherence, the switch cohort was more likely to be adherent than the add-on cohort (odds ratio: 1.64 [95% confidence interval: 1.42 to 1.89]). Persistence was higher in the switch than the add-on cohort (127.6 vs 117 days; P < 0.001).Conclusion: Hypertensive patients taking amlodipine who initiated statin therapy via single-pill amlodipine/atorvastatin were more likely to remain adherent to their statin than patients adding a separate statin to their antihypertensive regimen.Keywords: adherence, amlodipine, atorvastatin, cardiovascular disease, persistence, single-pil