PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Viktil, Kirsten K
AU  - Frøyland, Hilde
AU  - Rogvin, Maria
AU  - Moger, Tron Anders
TI  - Beliefs about medicines among Norwegian outpatients with chronic cardiovascular disease
AID  - 10.1136/ejhpharm-2013-000346
DP  - 2014 Apr 01
TA  - European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy: Science and Practice
PG  - 118--120
VI  - 21
IP  - 2
4099  - http://ejhp.bmj.com/content/21/2/118.short
4100  - http://ejhp.bmj.com/content/21/2/118.full
SO  - Eur J Hosp Pharm2014 Apr 01; 21
AB  - Objective To investigate the beliefs of Norwegian outpatients about medicines, and to explore if some patient-specific factors and drug use are associated with the beliefs. Methods Patients from an outpatient clinic for chronic cardiovascular diseases were referred by physicians to a pharmacist-led medication outpatient clinic. Here the patients were asked to complete the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire. Results 150 patients were included (mean age 70.0 years (range 31–91), 50 (33.3%) women), using a total of 1061 drugs. 91.2% strongly believed in the necessity of their medicines and 29.7% had strong concerns. Multivariate regression analyses showed that with an increasing number of drugs, the score for necessity was significantly increased (p<0.01). Women were significantly more concerned than men (p=0.03). The older the patient, the higher the score for general harm of medicines (p=0.01). Conclusions Although the majority of the patients in this study believed in the necessity of their medication, one-third had strong concerns.