Evaluation of Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy Guideline Adherence and Risk Factor Control in Portuguese Community Pharmacy Patients

Anabela Fonseca, Tácio de Mendonça Lima, Fernando Fernandez-Llimos, Maria Margarida Castel-Branco and Isabel Vitória Figueiredo
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Anabela Fonseca: Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory, Faculty of Pharmacy, University Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal
Tácio de Mendonça Lima: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica 23897-090, RJ, Brazil
Fernando Fernandez-Llimos: Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Drug Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
Maria Margarida Castel-Branco: Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory, Faculty of Pharmacy, University Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal
Isabel Vitória Figueiredo: Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory, Faculty of Pharmacy, University Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 10, 1-12

Abstract: Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death worldwide. Assessing the patients’ CVD risk, controlling the risk factors, and ensuring the guideline-adherent cardiovascular pharmacotherapy are crucial interventions to improve health outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of pharmacists to improve the adherence to pharmacotherapy guidelines and the achievement of risk factor goals among patients who attended a community pharmacy. Methods: We conducted a single-center cross-sectional study. We performed in-pharmacy point-of-care testing, blood pressure and anthropometric measurements, and reviewed patients’ pharmacotherapy, based on European Society of Cardiology guidelines. Results: Of the 333 patients, 63.1% were in the high/very high risk category, 91.9% showed at least two modifiable risk factors, and in 61.9% of patients the cardiovascular pharmacotherapy was non-adherent to the current guidelines, failing to reach treatment goals. The lipid-lowering therapy was the least guideline adherent, with a suboptimal use of statins. However, we found no statistically significant difference between the guideline-adherent and the non-adherent group in terms of risk factor control. The pharmacist recommended 603 interventions to adhere to the guidelines. Conclusions: Community pharmacists are able to identify opportunities to optimize cardiovascular pharmacotherapy and support the patients to achieve cardiovascular risk factor goals, based on evidence-based guidelines, contributing to the improvement of CVD management.

Keywords: cardiovascular diseases; risk assessment; guideline adherence; pharmacists; dyslipidemias; hypertension; diabetes mellitus; cross-sectional studies; Portugal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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