How do older Heart Failure patients manage their medication
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How do older Heart Failure patients manage their medication - An observational study.
IRAS ID
194146
Contact name
Roberta Fulton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Dundee
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
Heart Failure (HF) is a major cause of disability, hospitalisation and death, particularly amongst older people. Outcomes remain poor despite the improvements in prevention and treatment achieved through the prescribing of effective medications. Evidence suggests that adherence to medication (that is whether patients take their medication as often as medical staff would like them to) is often not good but there is a lack of current data identifying which modifiable factors are associated with poor adherence in older HF patients.
This study will investigate how accurately heart failure patients take their medication and follows on from a recent qualitative study, which explored patients understanding of heart failure and medication, along with the perceived drivers and barriers to adherence.
A minimum of 60 patients aged 70 years or over will be recruited via the Scottish Primary Care Research Network (SPCRN) to attend a single study visit. Outcome measures will be adherence as measured by Serum ACE measurement, urinary furosemide level, evidence of prescription refill and self-reported adherence. Secondary outcomes of quality of life and determinants of adherence will be assessed including medication beliefs; illness perception: self-efficacy; cognition; comorbidity and medication burden; record of recent hospitalisations and contact with health care professionals; functional Status and mood.
The results from this study along with the previous qualitative study will guide the development of a tailored intervention to enhance medication adherence in older HF patients.
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
15/ES/0200
Date of REC Opinion
16 Dec 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion