Impact of pharmacist-led interventions on medication adherence and clinical outcomes in patients with hypertension and hyperlipidemia: A scoping review of published literature

• Main Authors: Elnaem, Mohamed Hassan Abdelaziz, Rosely, Nur Fatin, Al-hifany, Abdullah, Elrggal, Mahmoud, Cheema, Ejaz
• Format: Article
• Language: English; English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2020
• Subjects: R Medicine (General); RS Pharmacy and materia medica
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/81774/1/Elnaem2020%20impact-of-pharmacist-led-interventions-on-medication-adherence.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/81774/7/81774_Impact%20of%20pharmacist-led%20interventions_scopus.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/81774/; https://www.dovepress.com/impact-of-pharmacist-led-interventions-on-medication-adherence-and-cli-peer-reviewed-article-JMDH
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

Background: The aim of this study was to provide a scoping review of the impact of pharmacist-led interventions on medication adherence and clinical outcomes in patients with hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Methods: A scoping review was conducted using pre-defined search terms in three scientific databases, including Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and PubMed. A multi-stage screening process that considered relevancy, publication year (2009– 2019), English language, and article type (original research) was followed. Review articles, meta-analysis studies, and conference proceedings were excluded. Data charting was done in an iterative process using a study-specific extraction form. Results: Of the initially identified 681 studies, 17 studies with 136,026 patients were included in the review. Of these, 16 were randomized controlled trials, while the remaining study was a retrospective cohort study. The majority of pharmacist-led interventions were face-to-face counseling sessions (n=8), followed by remote- or telephone-based interventions (n=5) and multi-faceted interventions (n=4). The majority of the studies (n=7) used self-reported adherence measures and pharmacy refill records (n=8) to measure the rate of adherence to prescribed medications. Eleven of the included studies reported a statistically significant (P< 0.05) impact on medication adherence. Overall, twelve studies assessed the effect of the interventions on the clinical outcome measures; of these, only four studies were associated with significant impact. Conclusion: Pharmacist-led interventions were associated with improved patients’ adherence to their medications but were less likely to be consistently associated with the attainment of clinical outcomes. Face-to-face counseling was the most commonly used intervention; while, the multi-faceted interventions were more likely to be effective in improving the overall outcome measures. The rigorous design of targeted interventions with more frequent follow-ups, careful consideration of the involved medications, and patients’ characteristics could increase the effectiveness of these interventions.