Medication adherence to non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants at non-valvular atrial fibrillation - the literature review
Abstract
Medication adherence is a complex problem reflecting variations in terms of medication taking behavior. It is essential in maximizing of the effect and risk minimization of the therapy and health care costs reduction, even in the case of oral anticoagulants (non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants - NOACs).
The aim of this paper was to review the published literature and to discuss results in the field of medication adherence to NOACs in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). Based on the searching in databases Embase and PubMed 25 studies were identified, of which conclusions were summarized in this paper.
Patients treated with dabigatran reported poorer medication adherence than patients with rivaroxaban. However, medication adherence is influenced by many circumstances as well as included studies were not sufficiently uniform, therefore, a prerequisite for further investigation of this issue is expected.