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Journal of Public Health Policy and Planning | Volume 3
April 08-09, 2019 | Zurich, Switzerland
Health Care and Neuroscience
International Conference on
Improving awareness and adherence to medications amongst heart failure patients
is the most cost effective way of reducing healthcare costs
Syed Raza
1
, Mazhar Mahmood
2
and
Sameena Razzak
2
1
Leighton Hospital, UK
2
Medical Resident, Awali Hospital, Bahrain
Background:
Heart Failure (HF) is a common medical
condition and an important public health issue.
This carries with it high mortality and frequent
hospitalization. There is generally high re-admission
rateandpatientsofheartfailuretendtohaveaduration
of stay in the hospital. Heart failure management is
costly and puts a burden on healthcare budget. Lack
of awareness of different aspects of management of
heart failure leads to poor adherence to treatment
which further adds to the healthcare cost. Despite
a number of evidence based medications being
available, the utilization are not always satisfactory.
Objective:
We conducted a study to explore
patients’ understanding and adherence to Heart
Failure (HF) medications at a general hospital setting.
Materials and Methods:
We prospectively studied
from January 2016 till December 2017, 196 patients
(outpatients plus inpatients ) of HF at our hospital.
The information was gathered by oral interview as
well as using questionnaire.
Results:
There were 110 male and 86 female patients
with average age of 54 years. The majority of patients
(78% ) were inNYHA class II and III and 72%of patients
were from Outpatient visits. 15% of patients stopped
or reduced the dose of diuretics on their own as they
thought they didn’t need themanymore or they were
thought to interfere in their life style. 36 % patients
believed that ACE Inhibitors or ARBs were for blood
pressure and therefore they had either stopped or
were intending to stop. 43 % patients were not keen
on taking beta-blocker because of fear of various side
effects and 12% of them already stopped the beta-
blocker on their own. 56% of patients did not like the
idea of increasing the dose of ACE Inhibitor, ARBs or
beta-blocker to the maximum, mainly out of fear of
side effects. In addition, 54% of the patients reported
that they were not informed by the prescribing
physician regarding the purpose and benefits of up
titrating the dose of these medication. Patients were
ignorant of the role of different HF medications such
as Aldosterone antagonists(86%), ACE Inhibitor or
ARBs (76%), Beta blocker(70%). None of the patients
who were on Ivabradine knew the role of the drug in
HF but at the same time were not informed of any
known side effects.
Conclusion:
Inadequate understanding and poor
adherence to medications is a common problem
among heart failure (HF) patients. as shown in our
study. Inadequate adherence leads to increased HF
de-compensation, reduced exercise tolerance, poor
quality of life and higher risk for hospital admission
and death. They all lead to increase in heart failure
treatment and management costs.
Speaker Biography
Syed Raza graduated from Aligarh University in India in 1993. After
completing his postgraduate degree in Medicine from the same university,
he moved to the UK for higher specialist studies. He successfully completed
MRCP and CCT and later also awarded Fellow of the Royal College of
Physicians of Edinburgh. He was awarded professor John Goodwin prize
for outstanding performance in Diploma Cardiology exam at Hammersmith
Hospital, University of London in 2001. He is Fellow of American College
of Cardiology, American College of Chest Physicians as well as Fellow of
European Society of Cardiology. He is currently serving as consultant in
Cardiology at Mid Cheshire Hospitals, NHS trust, UK. He is the educational
coordinator and examiner for MRCP exam for the Royal College of Physicians
of Edinburgh.
e:
syedraza621@gmail.com