[Noncompliance with programmed appointments in dyslipidemia patients in pharmacologic treatment]

To find the non-compliance of patients with Lipaemia with scheduled appointments, to define the profile of non-attending patients and to study the best way of identifying them.

Prospective study.

Primary Care Centres in the province of Alicante.

107 patients with Lipaemia from five General Medical clinics who received treatment with lipid-lowering drugs.

Non-compliance was assessed by reviewing the appointment books. Non-compliant patients were defined as those who had not attended 80-100% of the appointments made in the six months since the beginning of the study. Non-compliance with appointments was 16.8% (CI: 9.7-23.9). In the profile study none of the variables analysed showed significant differences. Of the methods validated, level of knowledge had the highest sensitivity (88.9%: CI 81.9-94.1); and medical judgement the greatest specificity (86.5%: CI 79.5-92.5), with the coefficient for probability of low compliance 2.9 and best Kappa index 0.25.

One out of every six patients with Lipaemia does not attend follow-up appointments. There is no profile of the non-compliant patient. Only medical judgement can be valid for suspecting non-compliance with scheduled appointments.