Abstract
Non-persistence rate (defined as not remaining on treatment) in patients taking a renin angiotensin system inhibitor plus calcium channel blocker was studied in three integrated 12-weeks surveys by matching separate drug combination therapy (CT) and fixed-dose combination (FDC). We also investigated medication adherence measured by proportion of days covered by using a claims database. The non-persistence rate was significantly lower in FDC than CT (p = 0.0074). In the database study, the medication adherence was higher in FDC than CT for 3, 6, and 12 months (all p < 0.001). In conclusion, use of single-tablet FDC antihypertensive therapy was associated with better medication-taking behavior.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank K. Hase who contributed to the statistical analyses.
Declaration of interest
This study was supported by Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. IS and TK has received lecture fees and honoraria for writing the manuscript from Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. YM, YS, KS, YT, MT, and YO are all employees of Daiichi Sankyo group.