Pharmacological treatment after acute myocardial infarction from 2001 to 2006: A survey in Italian primary care

Background Pharmacological preventive therapy after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is strictly recommended because of its great efficacy. Little is known about long-term utilization of drugs related to cardiovascular secondary prevention in everyday practice. Design A population-based cohort study on the basis of an Italian general practice database. Methods Searching a large primary-care Italian database (Health Search), we selected five cohorts of patients with first occurrence of AMI from 2001 to 2005, respectively, and analyzed prescriptions of antithrombotic agents, beta-blockers, statins and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) from 2001 to 2006 (follow-up ranging from 1 to 5 years). Results We identified 4764 patients (mean age 67; 35% female) discharged from hospital after first-ever AMI The prescription rate in the first year after AMI was suboptimal (beta-blockers 35.1%, aspirin or warfarin 75.0%,ACE-inhibitors or ARBs 61.6%, statins 52.8%) but showed a continuous improvement from 2001 to 2005. The prescription rate decreased slightly during the follow-up, but showed a complex pattern with a variable but significant number of patients discontinuing or resuming the therapy. Conclusions The prescription of recommended drugs after AMI has increased from 2001 to 2006 in Italy, but the prescription rate remains largely unsatisfactory. Therapeutic continuity is also suboptimal. J Cardiovasc Med 10:714-718 (C) 2009 Italian Federation of Cardiology.