Mattia Cordioli
Doctoral Student, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Finland
Genetic and environmental determinants of drug adherence and drug purchasing behaviour
One of the major factors behind the efficacy of pharmacological treatments is patients adherence to the prescribed therapy regimen. We leveraged genetic data from FinnGen and data from Finnish nation-wide health registries to investigate the potential effects of genetic variation on drug adherence.
We defined adherence as the ratio between the total quantity purchased and the total days of purchasing, and then looked at the genetic correlations between adherence and different traits. As an example, adherence to statins and risk-taking behaviour or mental health traits/disorder, such as loneliness and schizophrenia, were negatively correlated, while educational attainment resulted to be positively correlated.
By extending this approach to multiple long-lasting drug treatments, this study provides better insights into the traits affecting adherence.
