Introduction: The phenomenon of adherence to treatment is a motive of worry from the
scientific community, since it is considered as a worldwide problem of high magnitude.
The implications are of great relevance in morbidity, mortality, in the signiÀ cant increase in the
consumption of health care and in the costs to the health system, particularly in patients with
ischemic heart disease. We intend to evaluate adherence to treatment and relate beliefs about
medicines with adherence to treatment.
Material and methods: This study is descriptive-correlational and cross-sectional. It was
performed on 254 patients with ischemic heart disease who were in follow-up consultation in
the hospital at the time of the questionnaire application. Data collection was performed
through a self-administered questionnaire, integrating the following scales: Measure Adherence
to Treatment and Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire.
Results: The patients had a mean age of 66.94 years (SD = 11.62), 74% were male, 73.2% were
married, 69.3% had education up to the “4th grade”, 57.1% lived in the village, 70.1%
were retired and 49.6% had an income below “one minimum wage”. We found that 50.4% of
patients did not adhere to treatment. Women had a strong belief in the speciÀ c needs of the
prescribed medication, while men expressed greater belief in relation to long-term side effects
(P > .05). Patients who expressed a low belief about the harmful potential of medicines revealed
predictors of adherence to medication.
Conclusion: The results are consistent with previous studies in which individuals with lower
beliefs in speciÀ c concerns reported higher rates of adherence to medication.
© 2014 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.