COMMUNITY PHARMACY SERVICES, PREVENTION, AND MEDICATION ADHERENCE: A 15‑YEAR NARRATIVE REVIEW

Over the past fifteen years, community pharmacies have evolved from traditional dispensing sites to integrated “pharmacies of services” capable of delivering structured clinical, preventive, and adherence‑enhancing interventions. This narrative review synthesizes international evidence published between 2010 and 2025 on the impact of pharmacy‑based services on prevention and medication adherence. Across multiple systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials, pharmacist‑led interventions consistently improve adherence, with meta‑analytic estimates showing mean increases of approximately 0.08 in the proportion of days covered (PDC) and a 9% higher likelihood of achieving PDC ≥ 80% compared with usual care.[3] Studies in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, COPD, and polypharmacy populations demonstrate that medication reviews, motivational counselling, and medication therapy management programs yield adherence gains of 5–15 percentage points[1,2,4], often accompanied by clinically meaningful reductions in systolic blood pressure (−4 to −8 mmHg)[6] and LDL‑cholesterol (−5 to −15 mg/dL).[7] Preventive services delivered in pharmacies—including vaccination, cardiovascular risk screening, smoking cessation, and lifestyle counselling—further enhance population health, with pharmacy‑based vaccination programs increasing coverage by 5–20 percentage points[9] and screening initiatives identifying 5–15% of participants with previously undiagnosed hypertension or diabetes.[10] Collectively, the evidence supports the effectiveness of the “pharmacy of services” model in strengthening primary and secondary prevention, improving therapeutic adherence, and contributing to better chronic disease control.

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