Statin adherence and mortality in patients enrolled in a secondary prevention program.

OBJECTIVES: To determine statin adherence rates in patients enrolled in a cardiovascular secondary disease prevention program and to evaluate the impact of adherence on subsequent clinical events. METHODS: Patients who had an incident cardiac event between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2005, and began statin therapy within 90 days of that event were identified and followed until death, a recurrent nonfatal cardiac event, or December 31, 2006. Analysis was conducted in 2007 and 2008. Adherence was calculated using proportion of days covered (PDC), which was dichotomized into overall PDC >80% and PDC 80% compared with those with a PDC 80% had decreased risk of the combined outcome of death or nonfatal recurrent cardiac event compared with those with a PDC