Validation of a novel direct method to determine reduced adherence to atorvastatin therapy

Objective methods to determine statin adherence are requested to improve lipid management. We have recently established a method to detect reduced adherence to atorvastatin therapy with cut‐off values based on the sum of atorvastatin and its major metabolites in the blood. We aimed to validate this method in patients with and without cardiovascular disease, and optimize previous cut-off values.

The pharmacokinetic study included 60 participants treated with atorvastatin 20 mg (N = 20), 40 mg (N = 20), and 80 mg (N = 20). Atorvastatin was then stopped and blood samples collected from day zero to day four. Quantification of the parent drug and its metabolites in blood plasma was performed with a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay. The cut-off values for reduced adherence were validated and optimized by calculating diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Our candidate cut-off value of dose-normalized six-component sum of atorvastatin plus metabolites <0.10 nM/mg provided a sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 93% for detecting ≥2 omitted doses. An optimized cut-off <0.062 nM/mg provided a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 100%. An alternative simplified two-component metabolite sum with a cut-off value <0.05 nM/mg provided a sensitivity of 98% and a specificity of 76%. An optimized cut-off <0.02 nM/mg provided a sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 98%.

This validation study confirms that our direct method discriminates reduced adherence from adherence to atorvastatin therapy with high diagnostic accuracy. The method may improve lipid management in clinical practice and serve as a useful tool in future studies.