Impact of Socioeconomic Factors and Gender on Refill Adherence and Persistence to Lipid-Lowering Therapy in Type 1 Diabetes

Introduction Lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, socioeconomic factors and gender may have an impact on the adherence to and non-persistence with LLT. Methods This was a nationwide register-based cohort study that included 6192 individuals with T1D aged ≥ 18 years who were registered in the Swedish National Diabetes Register and had initiated novel use of LLT. Information on socioeconomic parameters (source: Statistics Sweden) and comorbidity (source: National Patient Register) was collected. The individuals were followed for 36 months, and adherence to LLT was analyzed according to age, socioeconomics and gender. The medication possession ratio (MPR; categorized into ≤ 80% and > 80%) and non-persistence (discontinuation) with medication was calculated after 18 and 36 months. Results Individuals older than 53 years were more adherent to LLT (MPR > 80%) than those younger than 36 years (odds ratio [(OR] 1.30, p