14th Congress of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT), Stockholm, İsveç, 29 Haziran 2019, ss.55, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
Introduction: Substantial evidence exists regarding reduction of
cardiovascular diseases and related mortality with the use of
lipid-modifying drugs as part of the primary or secondary cardiovascular protection.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe drug utilization pattern
in dyslipidemia patients who applied to a specialized heart center.
Methods: We retrospectively collected medical records of the patients
applied to the Istanbul Medical Center of Turkish Heart Foundation from
January 2016 till July 2018. Also considering that applying patients could
have other comorbidities, the drugs included in the treatment of patients
who were ever diagnosed with dyslipidemia were evaluated at ATC-1,
ATC-3, and ATC-5 level as well as by their original/generic status.
Results: Among the total of 11,085 patients who had diagnosis data,
19.4% had dyslipidemia. A total of 1673 patients had drug information
and the mean number of applications per person was 1.6 ± 1.7 (mean age:
63,4 ± 12,7 years; women: 52.7%). It was found that these patients used
9488 medications in total, where the number of drugs per patient was 5.7
± 8.0. When the drugs were examined at the ATC-5 level, the most
common ten drugs were acetylsalicylic acid (15.3%), atorvastatin
(11.7%), metoprolol (8.9%), rosuvastatin (5.8%), metformin (5.2%),
amlodipine (3.6%), levothyroxine (3.4%), clopidogrel (3.1%), valsartan
+ hydrochlorothiazide (1.7%), and ramipril (1.7%). At the ATC-3 level,
“antithrombotic agents” (19.2%), “lipid-modifying drugs” (18.5%), and
“beta-blockers” (13.4%) constitute the three most commonly used
groups. ATC-1 classification showed mostly “cardiovascular system”
(59.6%) drugs, followed by “blood and blood-forming organs” (19.4%)
and “digestive system and metabolism” (11.0%) drugs. It was found that
22.3% of total drugs were generic.
Summary / Conclusions: It appears that patients with dyslipidemia predominantly use drugs other than lipid-modifying drugs, where the latter
constitutes only about one-fifth of the all drugs used. This suggests the
need for designating comprehensive studies on the details of the surplus
of comorbid disease burden requiring pharmacological treatment with
dyslipidemia patients. Considering recent data raising concerns on the
efficacy of aspirin on primary prevention in cardiovascular diseases, more
attention would be neccessary to select patients who might benefit from
aspirin therapy in the primary setting