[One year persistence of atorvastatin and amlodipine fixed dose combination versus atorvastatin therapy].

Introduction: Hypertension and dyslipidemia are modifiable cardiovascular risk factors. In Hungary hypertension and dyslipidemia are quite frequent conditions. The patients' adherence is very important factor to reach the targets.

Aim: The aim of the authors was to investigate the one-year persistence of the atorvastatin therapy and atorvastatin and amlodipine fixed dose combination.

Method: National Health Insurance Found prescriptions database of Hungary on pharmacy claims between October 1, 2012 and September 30, 2013 was analyzed. The authors identified patients who filled prescriptions for atorvastatin and amlodipine fixed dose combination and atorvastatin prescribed for the first time. Patients did not receive similar drugs for one year before the study. To model the persistence, the apparatus of survival analysis was used, where "survival" was the time to abandon the medication. As it was available to month precision, discrete time survival analysis was applied: a generalized linear model was estimated with complementary log-log link function with the kind of drug being the only explanatory variable.

Results: During the trial period, atorvastatin and atorvastatin plus amlodipine fixed dose combination was started in 192,579 and 24,433 patients, respectively. One year persistence rate in patients with atorvastatin and amlodipine fixed dose combination was 43%, and 21% in patients with atorvastatin therapy. The 360-days-restricted study period, the mean duration of persistence was 221.4 (SE: 0.894) days in patients on atorvastatin and amlodipine fixed dose combination and 153.0 days (SE: 0.297) in those on atorvastatin regimen. The hazard of discontinuation was almost twofold higher during treatment with atorvastatin therapy compared with the use of the atorvastatin and amlodipine fixed dose combination (hazard ratio = 1.85, p<0.0001).

Conclusions: There is a significant difference between the one-year persistence of atorvastatin therapy and atorvastatin plus amlodipine fixed dose combination. The result demonstrate that atorvastatin and amlodipine fixed dose combination is favourable to reach double goals on blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol.