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Less than half of heart attack survivors continue taking beta-blockers during the first year after the attack, sacrificing the lifesaving benefits of the drug, according to a study conducted by the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare.

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, May 25, 2004

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Less than half of heart attack survivors continue taking beta-blockers during the first year after the attack, sacrificing the lifesaving benefits of the drug, according to a study conducted by the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH).

More than 90% of heart attack patients are prescribed beta-blockers within seven days of leaving the hospital, according to the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).  However, the new CAQH data showed that only 69% of patients took beta-blockers regularly during the first 30 days after their hospital discharge.

What's more, the rate continues to decrease:

• Over the six-month period after the heart attack, only 52% of patients had regularly taken beta-blockers.
  
• Looking at the first year after a heart attack, only 45% of heart attack survivors had continued taking the therapy regularly.

The findings, part of one of the largest studies of long-term beta-blocker adherence to date, were presented May 17 at the American Heart Association's Second Annual Scientific Conference on Compliance in Healthcare and Research in Washington, DC.

Researchers performed a retrospective analysis of one-year survivors of

myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, and measured

adherence during the first year post-MI. 

To better understand why patients stop taking beta-blockers, CAQH

conducted additional qualitative research among patients and physicians.  The

findings revealed a substantial gap in doctor-patient communication, which

appeared to significantly contribute to the survivors' failure to maintain

their beta-blocker regimens long-term.

The research showed that many heart attack survivors are not aware of the

life-saving benefits of beta-blockers -- or do not realize that in order to

achieve these benefits they must continue to take the medicine indefinitely.

"It appears that at some point in treatment patients begin to mistakenly

believe they no longer need the drug. Heart attack survivors are much more

open to maintaining beta-blocker therapy indefinitely if they understand how

the medication works and the benefits of the drug," commented John Charde,

MD, co-author, and Vice President of Health Improvement for Health Net. 

According to guidelines published by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, the long-term use of beta-blockers after a heart attack can reduce the risk of another heart attack and increase the probability of long-term survival by up to 40%.

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