Impact of Persistent Medication Adherence and Compliance with Lifestyle Recommendations on Major Cardiovascular Events and One-Year Mortality in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Advanced Stages of Atherosclerosis: Results From a Prospective Cohort Study.

This study analyzed the single and combined effects of medication adherence and compliance with lifestyle recommendations on cardiovascular events and mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes and advances stages of atherosclerosis over a period of one year.Evaluation of medication adherence included antidiabetics, statins, dual antiplatelets and ACEI/ARBs, whereas lifestyle recommendations included healthy nutrition, physical activity and smoking cessation.Persistent medication adherence and lifestyle changes have shown to be equally effective to reduce the incidence of MACE and one-year mortality in patients representing a population with highly advanced stages of atherosclerotic disease, and positive effects added up to a double effect if patients were persistently adherent and compliant with both interventions.