TUESDAY, Dec. 10, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Poststroke medication nonadherence is more prevalent among U.S. women than men, according to a study published online Dec. 4 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Chen Chen, M.P.H., from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, and colleagues examined sex differences in poststroke medication adherence, overall and by drug class. The analysis included 1,324 patients with first‐ever ischemic stroke with self‐reported medication adherence evaluated at 90 days after stroke.
The researchers found that women were more likely to report nonadherence to cholesterol‐lowering drugs (prevalence ratio [PR], 1.80; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.14 to 2.84) and antiplatelets (PR, 1.53; 95 percent CI, 1.003 to 2.34). Results were attenuated when adjusting for obesity, whereas adjusting for age, marital status, access to care, smoking, and alcohol consumption accentuated sex differences. The sex difference for nonadherence to cholesterol‐lowering drugs was modified by race and ethnicity, with a larger sex difference in Mexican American individuals (PR, 3.00; 95 percent CI, 1.65 to 5.48) versus non‐Hispanic White individuals (PR, 1.30; 95 percent CI, 0.52 to 3.27). There were no significant sex differences for nonadherence to antihypertensives and overall nonadherence.
“More specifically designed studies among U.S. populations are needed to replicate our findings and understand the unique pattern of sex differences in nonadherence to different secondary stroke prevention drugs,” the authors write.
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