Abstract
BackgroundThe incidence and mortality of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in low and middle income countries (LMICs) have been increasing, while access to CVDs medicines is suboptimal. We assessed selection of essential medicines for the prevention and treatment of CVDs on national essential medicines lists (NEMLs) of LMICs and potential determinants for selection.MethodsOnly operational NEMLs were considered eligible for this study. A selection of medicines listed under “cardiovascular medicines” or “blood products and plasma substitutes” in the NEMLs were included if they were present on international guidelines for the prevention and treatment of CVDs (hyperlipidemia, hypertension, platelet inhibition, ischemic stroke, stable ischemic heart disease, acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, peripheral arterial disease and acute limb ischemia). The number and diversity of essential medicines selected for CVDs were studied. Moreover, determinants of selection of essential medicines for CVDs at a national level were explored. Data analysis was done using univariate linear regression and non-parametric tests.ResultsAll medicine groups listed by the international guidelines were selected by the majority of the 34 countries studied with the exception of adenosine diphosphate receptor inhibitors which appeared on less than half of the NEMLs studied (41% of countries). The total number of essential medicines for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases (median 24 (range 16–50)) differed significantly across income levels (median range: 19.5–25, p = 0.014) and across regions (median range: 20–32, p = 0.049). When recommendations of the international guidelines were considered, over 75% of the NEMLs contained essential medicines for the majority of CVDs.ConclusionThe main medicine classes for the management of CVDs were represented on NEMLs. Consequently, for the majority of CVDs, evidence-based guideline-recommended treatment is possible as far as selection of essential medicines is concerned. Selection will therefore not be the limiting step in access to medicines for cardiovascular diseases.
Highlights
The incidence and mortality of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in low and middle income countries (LMICs) have been increasing, while access to CVDs medicines is suboptimal
Medicines listed on the national essential medicines lists (NEMLs) were included if they were categorized under “cardiovascular medicines” or “blood products and plasma substitutes” or similar naming and classification in other languages and if they were present in international guidelines for the prevention and treatment of a selection of CVDs
The overall median number of essential medicines selected for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases on NEMLs was 24 (Table 2)
Summary
The incidence and mortality of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in low and middle income countries (LMICs) have been increasing, while access to CVDs medicines is suboptimal. We assessed selection of essential medicines for the prevention and treatment of CVDs on national essential medicines lists (NEMLs) of LMICs and potential determinants for selection. Appropriate preventive measures should be taken to slow down this detrimental developments and treatment of these diseases should be prioritized. This notion has been accentuated in various international meetings and governments have made a variety of commitments in this direction [5, 6]. A preliminary step in guaranteeing equitable access to medicines in LMICs, is adopting a NEML with a rational and balanced approach in selection of essential medicines
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