Researcher at University of Houston College of Pharmacy Targets Pharmacy Practice (Patterns of Lipid Lowering Therapy Use Among Older Adults in a Managed Care Advantage Plan in the United States): Drugs and Therapies – Pharmacy Practice

Insurance Daily News

2022 NOV 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on pharmacy practice have been published. According to news originating from Houston, Texas, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “The prevalence of cardiovascular events is increasing. There are many new lipids lowering therapies available in recent years.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from University of Houston College of Pharmacy: “Increased evidence through literature and guidelines suggests that the use of lipid lowering therapy (LLT) benefits patients who are at risk for cardiovascular events. The objective of this study was to describe the current LLT use as well as patterns of treatment modification among adults 65 years. A retrospective analysis of administrative claims data between January 2016 and May 2018 was conducted. Patients with a LLT refill and continuous enrollment during 1-year prior and 1-year follow-up were identified. The treatment episodes captured were interruption of therapy, intensity changes, dose changes, treatment augmentation, switching, and discontinuation. An analysis of treatment patterns among patients 75 years was also performed. The study included 14,360 patients with a LLT of which 99% of patients were on statins as monotherapy or combination. Overall non-statin therapy use either as monotherapy or combination was 2.1%. There were significant differences among new initiators and existing users of therapy. Among prevalent users 57.4% had no changes in the follow-up period, 13.6% interrupted therapy, and 6.6% discontinued. Among new users, 47.9% patients had interrupted therapy, 25% had no changes, and 21.9% discontinued therapy.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Most patients were on monotherapy and statins with low non-statin use. The new users among them were more likely to discontinue and interrupt therapy, highlighting the limitations and issues that older patients face that need to increase adherence.”

For more information on this research see: Patterns of Lipid Lowering Therapy Use Among Older Adults in a Managed Care Advantage Plan in the United States. Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 2022. The publisher for Journal of Pharmacy Practice is SAGE Publications.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1177/08971900221128850.

Our news journalists report that more information may be obtained by contacting Aisha Vadhariya, Department of Pharmaceutical Health Outcomes and Policy, University of Houston College of Pharmacy, Houston, TX, United States. Additional authors for this research include Manvi Sharma, Susan M. Abughosh, Kim K. Birtcher, Hua Chen, Anjana Mohan, Michael L. Johnson.

ORCID is an identifier for authors and includes bibliographic information. The following is ORCID information for the author of this research: Anjana Mohan (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1200-1153).