Julie A. Gazmararian|Sunil Kripalani|Michael J. Miller|Katharina V. Echt|Junling Ren|Kimberly J. Rask
Factors associated with medication refill adherence in cardiovascular-related diseases
Emory University|Emory University|Drake University|Emory University|Emory University|Emory University
factors influencing medication adherence fully elucidated inadequate health literacy skills may impair comprehension medical care instructions thereby reduce medication adherenceto examine relationship health literacy medication refill adherence among medicare managed care enrollees cardiovascularrelated conditionsprospective cohort studynew medicare enrollees 4 managed care plans completed inperson survey identified administrative data coronary heart disease hypertension diabetes mellitus andor hyperlipidemia n1549health literacy determined using short form test functional health literacy adults stofhla prospective administrative data used calculate cumulative medication gap cmg valid measure medication refill adherence 1year period low adherence defined cmg 20overall 40 enrollees low refill adherence bivariate analyses indicated health literacy raceethnicity education regimen complexity related medication refill adherence p05 unadjusted analysis inadequate health literacy skills increased odds odds ratio or137 95 confidence interval ci 108 174 low refill adherence compared adequate health literacy skills however inadequate health literacy low refill adherence statistically significant multivariate analyses or123 95 ci 092 164the present study suggests conclusively demonstrate low health literacy predicts poor refill adherence given prevalence conditions future research continue examine important potential association