Background: Some studies have suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted patient adherence with chronic therapies. We designed this study to explore whether cardiovascular drug adherence patterns changed in chronically treated patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Retrospective cohort study examining drug dispensation data for all Alberta residents older than 18 years who were chronic users of at least one cardiovascular drug class, defined as receiving at least one prescription per annum for any agent in that drug class from March 15, 2017 to March 14, 2023 and 2 or more prescriptions within 365 days during either the pre-pandemic phase (March 15, 2018 to March 14, 2020) or the pandemic phase (March 15, 2020 to March 14, 2022). We calculated the proportion of days covered (PDC) for each drug class per patient and used generalized estimating equation logistic regression to estimate the effect of time period (pandemic versus pre-pandemic) on achievement of good adherence (PDC>0.8) after adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and comorbidities. Results: We evaluated 548,601 chronic users of at least one cardiovascular drug class between March 15, 2018 and March 14, 2022. The most frequently dispensed cardiovascular drug classes were ACEi/ARB (67.6%), statins (53.8%), beta-blockers (21.0%), and calcium channel blockers (20.7%); the most frequent diagnoses were hypertension (77.2%), diabetes mellitus (30.6%), and ischemic heart disease (19.6%), although 55.4% of the patients had Charlson Comorbidity Index scores of 0. The mean PDC for cardiovascular drug use in our cohort was 85.7% (median 93%) pre-pandemic and 87.0% (median 94%) during the pandemic. The proportion exhibiting good adherence (PDC>0.8) increased from 72.8% pre-pandemic to 75.4% during the pandemic (p<0.001). During the pandemic, users of cardiovascular drugs were more likely to exhibit good adherence (PDC>0.8) than they were in the pre-pandemic period: aOR ranged from 1.05 (95%CI 1.00-1.11) for mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists to 1.16 (1.15-1.17) for statins. Conclusion: Chronic users of cardiovascular drugs exhibited higher adherence measures during the COVID-19 pandemic than prior to the pandemic.
Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.
Clinical Trialnot applicable
Funding StatementNo project specific funding but Dr. Kaul holds the CIHR Sex and Gender Science Chair and a Heart&Stroke Foundation of Canada Chair in Cardiovascular Research.
Author DeclarationsI confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.
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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:
This study was approved by the Health Research Ethics Board of the University of Alberta (Pro00115481) with a waiver of individual signed consent for this study.
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I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).
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I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.
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Data AvailabilityThe data underlying this article was provided by the Government of Alberta under the terms of a research agreement and cannot be shared by the investigators under the Alberta Health Information Act. Inquiries regarding access to the data can be made to health.resdata@gov.ab.ca.
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