Educational programmes for improving medication adherence among older adults with coronary artery disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Xu M , Lo H S , Miu Y N 
Published: October 2024

Background

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Adhering to CAD medications is the priority of its treatment. However, medication adherence is suboptimal among older adults with CAD. Educational programmes are widely used and recommended in improving medication adherence among older adults with CAD. However, the evidence about the effects of educational programmes on medication adherence among older adults with CAD is limited.

Aim

To evaluate the best available research evidence on the effects of educational programmes designed for improving medication adherence among older adults with CAD.

Methods

12 English databases and five Chinese databases were searched from inception to January 2024. Randomised controlled trials or quasi-experimental studies examining the effects of educational programmes for improving medication adherence among older adults with CAD were included. The educational programmes included a set of planned activities aiming at improving the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of medication adherence. The outcome of medication adherence was measured by either objective or subjective methods. The quality of the included studies was assessed by the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool v2 or the Risk of Bias In Non-randomised Studies of Interventions tool. Meta-analysis was conducted using random-effect models as appropriate. Narrative synthesis was conducted if the results of the included studies were not appropriate or possible for meta-analysis. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation Approach was used to assess the certainty of evidence.

Results

5,607 records were retrieved and 5,599 records were excluded. Seven studies including six randomised controlled trials and one quasi-experimental study were included. Two studies were rated as low risk of bias. Five studies were rated as some concerns or moderate risk of bias due to inadequate information on blinding, allocation concealment, and the analysis of data according to the intention-to-treat principle. The results showed that the educational programmes were associated with significant improvements in medication adherence at immediately post-intervention (Standardised mean difference (SMD): 1.61, 95% CI: 0.03 to 3.19, P=0.05, Low quality of evidence), and at one to six months post-intervention (SMD: 1.13, 95% CI: 0.33 to 1.94, P=0.006, Moderate quality of evidence). Narrative synthesis found that the educational programmes potentially improved medication adherence over six months post-intervention.

Conclusions

The results show that the educational programmes could improve medication adherence among older adults with CAD. Designing the educational programmes with theoretical frameworks would be helpful to address the complex health needs of the older adults with CAD. More rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of the programmes on long-term medication adherence of the older adults is warranted.Figure 1.Immediate post-interventionFigure 2.Medium-term post-intervention