Awareness of Pleiotropic and Cardioprotective Effect of Statins in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

BACKGROUND: Statins are commonly used in the secondary prevention of coronary artery disease. Studies have shown that the rate of statin use is low among patients with coronary artery disease. In this study, we aimed to investigate the reasons for poor patient compliance with statin treatment. METHODS: A total of 504 patients diagnosed with coronary heart disease were included in the study. Patients were asked 5 questions to assess their level of knowledge about statin therapy. RESULTS: Among the patients not using statins, 42% stated they did not take the medication because their cholesterol was not high or they did not know they should renew their prescription when they ran out and 35% because they were influenced by news reports in the media suggesting that cholesterol-lowering drugs were harmful. When patients who were aware of the pleiotropic/cardioprotective effects of statins were compared with patients who were not, the more knowledgeable patients had lower noncompliance rate and mean LDL-C level and a higher rate of LDL-C level optimization. CONCLUSION: We found that patients who are aware of the pleiotropic effects of statins were more compliant with treatment. We believe that spending more time explaining and emphasizing the mechanisms of action, reason for prescribing, and necessary treatment duration of drugs that patients must use will result in greater compliance and improve patient care. In this way, patients may be less influenced by misinformation presented by the media.