• Leon A Simons, Michael Ortiz, and Gordon Calcino.
• University of New South Wales, St Vincent's Hospital, New South Wales. l.simons@unsw.edu.au
• Aust Fam Physician. 2011 May 1; 40 (5): 319322319-22.

BackgroundLong term persistence on statin drugs has been shown to be unsatisfactory, however, there is little recent Australian data. This study examines current persistence Australia-wide in patients who have been newly prescribed a statin drug.MethodWe conducted a longitudinal assessment of Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme claim records dating from April 2005 to March 2010. Main outcome measures were the proportion of patients who were not filling a first repeat prescription at 1 month, and median persistence time during follow up.ResultsFor 77,867 patients initiated to statin, 86% of prescriptions came from general practitioners. Forty-three percent of patients discontinued statin within 6 months, 23% failed to collect their first repeat at 1 month, and median persistence time was only 11 months. In those aged 65--74 years, median persistence time was 19 months but only 3--6 months for those less than 55 years.DiscussionUnsatisfactory long term persistence on statin therapy has changed little over the past 10 years. There may be an opportunity for early intervention within 3--4 weeks of initiation to improve persistence, as valuable resources are being wasted and an opportunity for disease prevention missed.

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