Patterns of Use and Discontinuation of Secondary Prevention Medications After Stroke

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether certain patient, acute care, or primary care factors are associated with medication initiation and discontinuation in the community after stroke or TIA. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study using prospective data on adult patients with first-ever acute stroke/TIA from the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (April 2010 to June 2014), linked with nationwide medication dispensing and Medicare claims data. Medication users were those with ≥1 dispensing in the year postdischarge. Discontinuation was assessed among medication users and defined as having no medication supply for ≥90 days in the year postdischarge. Multivariable competing risks regression,..