Medication Non-Adherence in Heart Transplant Patients

Abstract

Objective: To measure medication non-adherence in patients after heart transplantation using the Basel Assessment of Adherence to Immunosuppressive Medications Scale (BAASIS) and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS); to compare the results of biopsies performed with the prevalent comorbidities and survival. Method: Quantitative historical cohort. The population consisted of patients undergoing transplantation between 2009 and 2016. Results: Participation of 60 patients. The measurement using the BAASIS was 46.7% of non-adherence and 53.3% of patient adherence. The group with greater difficulty in non-adherence reported up to 2 hours delay of medication intake in relation to the prescribed time (25%), although there was no interruption in medications. The initial diagnosis was Chagas disease (33.3%). The studied comorbidities were systemic arterial hypertension (SAH), diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidemia (DLP) and chronic renal failure (CRF). Conclusion: Assessment using the BAASIS showed medication non-adherence in 46.7% of heart transplant patients. The VAS according to patients' self-report and nurse's assessment showed high values (93.3%vs 83.3%). The BAASIS tends to address the difficulties reported by patients, when there is a change in doses, delays or anticipations of time and dose.