IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/medema/v30y2010i5p594-609.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Views on Treatment Necessity, Harm, and Benefits in Patients Using Statins

Author

Listed:
  • Per Lytsy

    (Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, Per.Lytsy@pubcare.uu.se)

  • Gunilla Burell

    (Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden)

  • Ragnar Westerling

    (Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden)

Abstract

Background. Patients with dyslipidemia and high overall risk of ischemic heart disease are those most likely to benefit from treatment with statins. The objective of this study was to investigate patients’ views of the necessity, harm, and expected benefits of their statin treatment, as well as factors associated with these treatment beliefs. One main objective was to investigate whether cardiovascular risk level and previous coronary heart disease affect the way patients view these different aspects of their medication. Methods. A total of 829 statin users were recruited while visiting a pharmacy to collect their statin medication (response rate, 69.4%). Patients returned a questionnaire assessing their medical history, concurrent risk status, social demographic factors, as well as their views and expectations regarding their statin treatment. Results. Previous ischemic heart disease, or high risk of such disease, was not associated with a more favorable notion on statin treatment. Having an internal health locus of control as well as being satisfied with the physician’s treatment explanation were factors associated with more positive views on expected treatment effect. The views on necessity, harm, and treatment benefit were closely associated with each other. Conclusion. The main findings in this study suggest that cardiovascular risk level and previous coronary heart disease are not associated with the way patients value potential benefits of statin treatment. Patients’ views of the treatment’s necessity, harm, and benefits do not seem to be independent dimensions of patient beliefs but rather represent one overall question: is this good for me?

Suggested Citation

  • Per Lytsy & Gunilla Burell & Ragnar Westerling, 2010. "Views on Treatment Necessity, Harm, and Benefits in Patients Using Statins," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 30(5), pages 594-609, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:medema:v:30:y:2010:i:5:p:594-609
    DOI: 10.1177/0272989X09353196
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0272989X09353196
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0272989X09353196?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:medema:v:30:y:2010:i:5:p:594-609. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.