Assessment of Patients’ Views on Drug Benefits and Risks: An Interview Study with Cardiovascular Patients

Table 2

Frequencies of whether a mentioned risk was perceived as bothersome, concerning, or led the patients to take their medication differently than prescribed. Percentages are based on the total number of mentions of the respective risk.

Reported risk	Total mentions of risk n	Risk perceived as bothersome n (n (%))	Risk perceived as concerning n (n (%))	Risk resulting in taking medication differently than prescribed n (n (%))
Gastrointestinal disorders without mouth and throat complaints	95	54 (57%)	30 (32%)	12 (13%)
Mouth and throat complaints	56	33 (59%)	13 (23%)	1 (2%)
Cardiac disorders/hypertension/hypotension	44	20 (45%)	19 (43%)	2 (5%)
Skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders	40	20 (50%)	12 (30%)	2 (5%)
Psychiatric disorders	38	20 (53%)	21 (55%)	2 (5%)
Urinary urgency	32	18 (56%)	7 (22%)	10 (31%)
Increased bleeding tendency (i.a. INR increased)/hematoma/epistaxis	28	12 (43%)	7 (25%)	2 (7%)
Eye disorders	24	14 (58%)	10 (42%)	1 (4%)
Fatigue	22	15 (68%)	7 (32%)	0 (0%)
Cough/dyspnea	21	18 (86%)	10 (48%)	2 (10%)
Dizziness	19	12 (63%)	6 (32%)	1 (5%)
Localized edema	18	13 (72%)	9 (50%)	1 (6%)
Renal and urinary disorders without urinary urgency	16	5 (31%)	10 (63%)	1 (6%)
Anorexia/weight loss	13	4 (31%)	3 (23%)	0 (0%)
Weight gain	13	12 (92%)	4 (31%)	0 (0%)
Nervous system disorders without dizziness	13	9 (69%)	4 (31%)	0 (0%)
Myalgia/muscle cramp	12	9 (75%)	5 (42%)	2 (17%)
Erectile dysfunction	10	5 (50%)	2 (20%)	0 (0%)
Arthralgia/bone pain/osteoporosis	8	4 (50%)	4 (50%)	0 (0%)
Hot flashes/flushing	8	8 (100%)	2 (25%)	0 (0%)
Hepatobiliary disorders	8	0 (0%)	6 (75%)	0 (0%)
Tinnitus	6	4 (67%)	3 (50%)	0 (0%)
Neoplasms: benign, malignant, and unspecified (incl. cysts and polyps)	5	0 (0%)	2 (40%)	0 (0%)
Allergic reaction/anaphylaxis	4	2 (50%)	3 (75%)	0 (0%)
Hyperglycemia/hypoglycaemia	4	1 (25%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Influencing drug efficacy	3	1 (33%)	1 (33%)	1 (33%)
Others	15	7 (47%)	4 (27%)	1 (7%)