Comparison of Beliefs about Cardiovascular Medicines in Polish and American Patients: A Cross Sectional Study

Introduction: Patient adherence to medications is a constant concern. Some barriers to adherence are that the patient may believe that medications are overused or feel that the medications they take are not necessary for their well-being. Materials and Methods: A written paper survey was given to general outpatient clinics, pharmacies and senior living homes. The original English version as well as the recently validated Polish version of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) was used together with the Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale (ARMS). Additionally, patients were asked to answer demographic questions regarding sex, age, place of residence and socioeconomic status. Results: The extent of general beliefs that medicines are harmful and overused as well as the specific beliefs of concerns did not significantly differ between the studied populations (p>0.05).  However, beliefs about the necessity of prescribed medications were significantly higher in the group of Polish patients as compared to the American and the difference remained significant after adjusting for sociodemographic covariates (18.3, 95%CI 17.2-19.5 vs. 16.2, 95%CI 14.9-17.5, p=0.02). Necessity-minus-Concern beliefs significantly predicted self-reported medication adherence also after adjusting for sociodemographic covariates (r=0.41, 95%CI 0.25-0.55, p<0.0001), with no significant difference existing between the studied groups (p=0.65).Conclusions: Polish cardiovascular patients seem to believe that their medications are more necessary than American patients, however, the results may be biased due to the possible effect of unmeasured covariates. The Necessity Concerns Framework appears equally useful in predicting self-reported adherence to cardiovascular medications in both populations.