Introduction: Patients after heart transplantation must adhere to a lifelong medication regimen consisting of immunosuppressive therapy, as well as additional medications to treat comorbid pathologies. The Medication Regimen Complexity Index (MRCI) can currently be used to systematically assess the complexity of a treatment regimen. However, there are limited reports in the literature on the use of MRCI in heart transplant patients.
Objectives: evaluate the Medication Regimen Complexity Index on hospitalization rates, glomerular filtration rate and recipient survival after heart transplantation.
Methods: The study included 607 outpatients aged 18 to 70 years, follow-up from January 2008 to December 2017. The evaluation of multicomponent therapy at follow-up periods from 1 to 5 years after heart transplantation was performed using MRCI.
Results: The mean MRCI total score was 51.47 ± 19.47, which is higher than some other chronic diseases. In patients taking 9 or more medications, the most common conditions were hypertension 274 (92.8%), dyslipidemia 265 (89.9%), and kidney disease 255 (86.4%). The total MRCI score in the group of patients taking more than 9 medications was 63.37 ± 15.75. The effect of total MRCI score on recipient survival has not been established.
Conclusion: Assessment of the MRCI index can become a predictor of early identification of individual characteristics while taking medications, which will subsequently allow choosing a strategy to reduce drug therapy and reduce the number of complications.