Information Needs of Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases - Experiences of a Drug Information Service

Schroeder, Jane , Idelevich, Evgeny , Lochner, Sophie , Dr. Siegert, Joachim , Dr. Schindler, Christoph , Prof. Dr. Kirch, Wilhelm. Institute of Clinical Pharmacology Faculty of Medicine, Dresden University of Technology, Fiedlerstraße 27, 01307 Dresden, Germany.

Successful therapy of cardiovascular diseases depends, among other things, on the cooperation of the patient. Due to the variety of treatment options and the short time available during the physician consultation, many patients have open questions about their drug therapy. At worst, they could stop their treatment for these reasons. Hence, since 2001, a drug information service for patients has successfully been established at the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology in Dresden, Germany, to provide adequate information about drugs. The patients who used the service were interviewed concerning their socio-demographic characteristics, reason for enquiry, number and kind of drugs taken, and diseases. In the present evaluation, all enquiries from January 2007 to December 2008 were analyzed descriptively with a main focus on drugs for the cardiovascular system. In the evaluated period, 2788 enquiries were registered in total. Women used the service more frequently (63.0%) than men. The largest percentage of enquiries originated from the age group 60 to 79 years (56.8%). 30.8% of all drugs taken by the patients were cardiovascular drugs, being the leader among the other drug groups. Cardiovascular drugs were also the most common reason for an enquiry (25.3%), followed by drugs for the nervous system (21.5%). Patients’ unmet information needs for cardiovascular drugs were mainly related to agents acting on the renin-angiotensin system (30,5%), beta blocking agents (23,3%), and lipid modifying agents (15,1%). The need for information about possible drug adverse effects was the reason for contacting the service in 62,4% of all enquiries concerning cardiovascular drugs. 33,7% of the patients asked about possible drug interactions and 27,3% of the enquirers wanted information about the therapy of a particular cardiovascular disease. Questions about drugs for the cardiovascular system are the most common reason for contacting the drug information service for patients.

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