Adherence to Antiplatelet Therapy after Coronary Intervention among Patients with Myocardial Infarction Attending Vietnam National Heart Institute

Adherence to antiplatelet therapy is critical to successful treatment of cardiovascular conditions. However, little has been known about this issue in the context of constrained resources such as in Vietnam. The objective of this study was to examine the adherence to antiplatelet therapy among patients receiving acute myocardial infarction interventions and its associated factors. In a cross-sectional survey design, 175 adult patients revisiting Vietnam National Heart Institute diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction were approached for data collection from October 2014 to June 2015. Adherence to antiplatelet therapy was assessed by asking patients whether they took taking antiplatelet regularly as per medication (do not miss any dose at the specified time) for any type of antiplatelet (aspirin, clopidogrel, ticlopidine...) during the last month before the participants came back to take re-examinations. The results indicated that the adherence to antiplatelet therapy among patients was quite high at 1 month; it begins to decline by 6 months, 12 months, and more than 12 months (less than 1 month was 90.29%; from 1 to 6 months 88.0%, from 6 to 12 months 75.43%, and after 12 months only 46.29% of patients). Multivariable logistic regression was utilized to detect factors associated with the adherence to antiplatelet therapy. It showed that patients with average income per month of $300 or more (OR=2.92, 95% CI=1.24-6.89), distance to the hospital of less than 50km (OR=2.48, 95% CI: 1.12-5.52), taking medicine under doctor's instructions (OR=3.65; 95% CI=1.13-11.70), and timely re-examination (OR=3.99, 95% CI=1.08-14.73) were more likely to follow the therapy. In general, the study suggested that to increase the likelihood of adherence to antiplatelet therapy it is important to establish a continuous care system after discharging from hospital.