Repeat prescriptions of guideline-based secondary prevention medication in patients with type 2 diabetes and previous myocardial infarction in Dutch primary care

BACKGROUND: Secondary prevention is efficient in reducing morbidity and mortality after a myocardial infarction (MI). However, both short-term and long-term mortality after MI remains relativity high in type 2 diabetes patients.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate repeat prescriptions of secondary prevention medication (anti-thrombotic agent, beta-blocker and statin) in type 2 diabetes patients with a previous MI.

METHODS: Data of 1009 type 2 diabetes patients with a previous MI were extracted from the Julius General Practitioners' Network database. The proportion of patients with recent repeat prescriptions of guideline-based medication was determined. Furthermore, repeat prescriptions was determined 6 months, 1 year, 2 years and 5 years after MI. Generalized linear models were used to examine changes over time. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the association between patient characteristics and prescription.

RESULTS: Only 46% of all type 2 diabetes patients with a previous MI had a recent repeat prescription for all three medicines. An increase in prescription over time was found for statins (P = 0.001). Older aged people [odds ratio (OR): 0.99, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.98-1.00] were less likely to receive the combination of all three.

CONCLUSION: A substantial proportion of type 2 diabetes patients with a previous MI did not receive guideline-based secondary prevention. Prescription rates were quite stable over time. This study confirms the need for a different approach to achieve an improvement of secondary prevention in type 2 diabetes patient with a previous MI. GPs can play an important role in this respect by being extra alert that prescription occurs according to the guidelines.