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Primary non-adherence in general practice: A Danish register study

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The aim of this study was to describe primary non-adherence (PNA) in a Danish general practitioner (GP) setting, i.e. the extent to which patients fail to fill the first prescription for a new drug. We also assessed the length of time between the issuing of a prescription by the GP and the dispensing of the drug by the pharmacist. Lastly, we sought to identify associations between PNA and the characteristics of the patient, the drug and the GP. By linking data on issued prescriptions compiled in the Danish General Practice Database with data on redeemed prescriptions contained in the Danish National Prescription Registry, we calculated the rate of PNA among Danish patients from January 2011 through to August 2012. Characteristics associated with PNA were analysed using a mixed effects logistic regression model. A total of 146,959 unique patients were started on 307,678 new treatments during the study period. The overall rate of PNA was 9.3 %, but it varied according to the major groups of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification System, ranging from 16.9 % for "Blood and bloodforming organs" (ATC group B) to 4.7 % for "Cardiovascular system" (ATC group C). Most of the patients redeemed their prescriptions within the first week. Older age, high income and a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were found to be significantly associated with lower rates of PNA, while polypharmacy and a diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease were associated with higher rates of PNA. The overall rate of PNA among Danish residents in a GP setting was 9.3 %. Certain drug classes and patient characteristics were associated with PNA.
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PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND PRESCRIPTION
Primary non-adherence in general practice: a Danish
register study
Anton Pottegård &Rene dePont Christensen &Alae Houji &
Camilla Binderup Christiansen &Maja Skov Paulsen &
Janus Laust Thomsen &Jesper Hallas
Received: 5 August 2013 /Accepted: 31 March 2014
#Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Abstract
Purpose The aim of this study was to describe primary non-
adherence (PNA) in a Danish general practitioner (GP) set-
ting, i.e. the extent to which patients fail to fill the first
prescription for a new drug. We also assessed the length of
time between the issuing of a prescription by the GP and the
dispensing of the drug by the pharmacist. Lastly, we sought to
identify associations between PNA and the characteristics of
the patient, the drug and the GP.
Methods By linking data on issued prescriptions compiled in
the Danish General Practice Database with data on redeemed
prescriptions contained in the Danish National Prescription
Registry, we calculated the rate of PNA among Danish pa-
tients from January 2011 through to August 2012.
Characteristics associated with PNA were analysed using a
mixed effects logistic regression model.
Results A total of 146,959 unique patients were started on
307,678 new treatments during the study period. The overall
rate of PNA was 9.3 %, but it varied according to the major
groups of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC)
Classification System, ranging from 16.9 % for Blood and
bloodforming organs(ATC group B) to 4.7 % for
Cardiovascular system(ATC group C). Most of the patients
redeemed their prescriptions within the first week. Older age,
high incomeand a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease were found to be significantly associated with lower
rates of PNA, while polypharmacy and a diagnosis of ischae-
mic heart disease were associated with higher rates of PNA.
Conclusions The overall rate of PNA among Danish residents
in a GP setting was 9.3 %. Certain drug classes and patient
characteristics were associated with PNA.
Keywords Patient adherence .Medication adherence .
General practice .Registries .Pharmacology .
Pharmacoepidemiology
Introduction
Non-adherence to medications is a well-known challenge in
pharmacological treatment. Conceptually, non-adherence can
be divided into primary and secondary non-adherence. Primary
non-adherence (PNA) occurs when the patient fails to initiate
treatment altogether, while secondary non-adherence is used to
describe a complex range of situations, such as when the patient
intentionally or unintentionally skips doses, uses lower doses
than prescribed or uses medical devices incorrectly [1].
The term non-adherence is often used in the sense of
secondary non-adherence, and most research conducted to
date has focused on secondary non-adherence. However,
when only secondary non-adherence is considered, i.e. PNA
is not taken into account, the overall rate of non-adherence is
an underestimation, as the number of patients who do not
redeem their prescription at all is not included in the analysis
[2]. Furthermore, from a clinical perspective, a patient failing
to initiate treatment, i.e. showing PNA, constitutes a challenge
that is different from that of a patient who at one point
accepted treatment but who later fails to adhere to the
A. Pottegård (*):R. d. Christensen :A. Houji :
C. B. Christiansen :J. Hallas
Clinical Pharmacology, Institute of Public Health, University of
Southern Denmark, JB Winsløwsvej 19, 2, 5000 Odense C, Denmark
e-mail: apottegaard@health.sdu.dk
A. Pottegård :J. Hallas
Department of Clinical Chemistry & Pharmacology, Odense
University Hospital, Odense C, Denmark
R. d. Christensen :M. S. Paulsen :J. L. Thomsen
Research Unit of General Practice, Institute of Public Health,
University of Southern Denmark, Odense C, Denmark
M. S. Paulsen :J. L. Thomsen
Danish Quality Unit of General Practice, Odense C, Denmark
Eur J Clin Pharmacol
DOI 10.1007/s00228-014-1677-y
agreed-upon regimen. As such, a knowledge of overall rates
of and factors associated with PNA is an important aspect of
prescribing.
When compared to the extensive research that has focused
on secondary non-adherence [1,3,4], the amount of research
done on PNA is relatively modest, albeit increasing in more
recent years. In the pivotal study by Beardon et al. [5], 5.2 %
of prescriptions issued in primary care were never filled at the
pharmacy, while newer studies have reported rates ranging
from 2.4 to 30.7 % [619]. Several papers have reported
variance in PNA according to patient characteristics [5,
714,1619], prescriber characteristics [9,10,12,16,19],
drug type [5,710,13,14,16] and level of patient co-payment
[5,13,14]. However, comparisons between studies are com-
plicated by differences in setting (primary care [5,11,14,19],
secondary care [8,12,15,17]orboth[7,9,10,13,16,18])
and major differences in methodology. Follow-up times in
studies reported to date range from 2 days [15] up to 6 months
[9], and while some studies include all prescriptions [5,7,10,
11,13,14,18,19], others only consider the first prescription
for a new drug [810,1517], with the latter group showing
markedly higher rates of non-adherence.
The aim of our study is to describe PNA in a Danish
general practitioner (GP) setting. Specifically:
1. To estimate the rate of PNA, overall as well as specified
by subgroups of patients and drug types;
2. To describe the timing between prescriptions being pre-
scribed by the physician and filled at the pharmacy;
3. To identify factors associated with PNA, including char-
acteristics of the patient, of the drug and of the GP.
Method
The study was a register-based study conducted in Denmark.
We calculated the rate of PNA in the primary care setting
among Danish patients by linking data on issued prescriptions
compiled in the Danish General Practice Database (DAMD)
with data on redeemed prescriptions contained in the Danish
National Prescription Registry.
Setting
All Danish residents (5.6 million) have free and direct access
to GPs, ophthalmologists, and ear, nose and throat office-
based specialists, as well as hospital emergency services.
The GPs are the gatekeepers who control further patient
access to the secondary health care system [20], and the
majority of all prescriptions are issued by GPs. In Denmark,
the Danish Health and Medicines Authority assigns reim-
bursement status to a medicine. Consequently, when a resident
purchases a prescription medicine, reimbursement is automat-
ically deducted from the price charged at the pharmacy.
Reimbursement applies to all citizens, irrespective of income.
Data sources
The DAMD was implemented in 2006 and is a database that
contains a patients clinical data and prescription information
related to individual consultations with a GP [21,22]. DAMD
uses a data capture module incorporated in the GPsIT-
system. This module automatically sends information on pre-
scribed medication, diagnoses and laboratory data to DAMD
for each contact between a GP and a patient. Drugs are
categorised according to the Anatomic Therapeutic
Chemical (ATC) Classification System, which is a classifica-
tion system developed and maintained by the World Health
Organization (WHO) [23]. Diagnoses are coded according to
the International Classification of Primary Care system
(ICPC) [21]. A national agreement states, that as of April
2013, all 2,100 GP practices in Denmark are obliged to use
the data capture module and consequently contribute data to
DAMD [21].
The Danish National Prescription Registry [24]contains
data on all prescription drugs dispensed in retail pharmacies to
Danish citizens since 1994. The data include an exact account
of the dispensed pharmaceutical product, including substance,
brand name, dose unit and quantity, date of dispensing, age
and gender of the drug user and identifiers for the prescribing
physician and the dispensing pharmacy.
All data sources were linked by use of the personal identi-
fication number, a unique identifier assigned to all Danish
residents since 1968 that encodes gender and date of birth
[25]. All linkages were performed within Statistics Denmark,
a governmental institution that collects and maintains elec-
tronic records for a broad spectrum of statistical and scientific
purposes [24,26,27].
Population
Our study population consisted of all GPs contributing data to
the DAMD who were classified as up-to-standardin the
database throughout the entire study period, as well as all
patients aged 18 years assigned to these GPs. Being classi-
fied as up-to-standardimplies 70 % of all consultations
were encoded with an ICPC diagnosis.
Analysis
Data were obtained for the period of January 2010 through to
December 2012. The primary study outcome was PNA, de-
fined as not having redeemed a prescription within 4 months
from the day the prescription was issued. Due to this 4-month
window, only data on prescriptions issued between 1 January
Eur J Clin Pharmacol
2011 and 31 August 2012 were included in the analysis. Only
new prescriptions were included, defined as the patient not
having filled a prescription for the same drug substance within
the last 2 years prior to the new prescription being issued,
according to the Prescription Registry. Drugs were classified
at the fifth level of the ATC system, i.e. at the level of single
drug substances. We also described the timing of the pharma-
cy visit relative to the issuing of the prescription at the GPs
office, by calculating the cumulative proportion of prescrip-
tions having been filled each day for the first 30 days after the
prescriptions were issued. Lastly, we compared PNA across
patient characteristics, drug classes and GP characteristics:
Patient characteristics included gender, age at 1 January
2011 (categories: 1829, 3049, 5069, and 70+ years),
cohabitation (married vs. not-married), total family in-
come in 2010 (<250,000 DKK
1
, 250,000499,999 DKK
and 500,000 DKK), level of education by 1 January
2011 (10, 1112 and 13+ years), polypharmacy (use of
02drugs,37 drugs and 8+ drugs during 2010) and the
presence of selected diagnoses at any time during the
study period: diabetes mellitus (T89T90), chronic ob-
structive pulmonary disease (R95) and ischemic heart
disease (K75).
Drug characteristics were analyzed according to all main
ATC groups, i.e. the first level of the ATC system, one by
one. Fifteen specific subgroups representing frequently
used drugs were also selected and analysed.
The GP characteristics included were age (<50, 5059,
and 60+ years) and number of GPs in the given practice
(solo practice, 2, and 3+ GPs). For practices with 2 GPs,
age corresponded to the mean age of the GPs in the given
practice.
These associations were firstly explored as subgroups, i.e.
stratifying all issued prescription by the above-mentioned
characteristics. Secondly, we estimated odds ratios (ORs) for
PNA associated with the different characteristics using logistic
regression. PNA is an individual trait, and we therefore
employed a mixed effects logistic regression model with
random effects for both the subject and the prescriber. Also,
since the rate of PNA is assumed to be fairly low, the ORs
reported are reasonable estimates of the corresponding risk-
ratios.
All calculations were performed using STATA Release
12.0 (StataCorp, College Station, TX).
The study was approved by the scientific board of Statistics
Denmark and by DAMD (project 5213). According to
Danish law, ethical approval is not required for registry-
based studies.
Results
Eighty-three GPs were included in the study. During the study
period 307,678 new treatments were initiated among 146,959
unique patients. The characteristics of the patientsare present-
ed in Table 1.
Table 2shows the PNA within subgroups of patients. The
overall rate of PNA was 9.3 %. PNA was more frequent
among those aged 1829 years (13.8 %) and decreased with
age, with patients aged 70+ years having the lowest rate of
PNA (7.5 %). Patients with incomes of <250,000 DKK per
year had a higher rate of PNA (10.0 %) than those in the two
higher income categories (9.3 and 8.9 %, respectively).
The numbers of unfilled prescriptions for each main ATC
group are shown in Table 3. PNA varied by main ATC group,
ranging from4.7 to 73.9 %. The rate was highest for Vari ou s
(ATC group V) (73.9 %) and Antineoplastic and
immunomodulating agents(ATC group L) (70.1 %).
However, these two groups were rarely prescribed (119 and
197 prescriptions, respectively). Among the remaining
1
1Euro7.50 DKK
Tabl e 1 Demographics of patients
Characteristics N=146,959 unique patients
Gender
Male 64,673 (44.0 %)
Female 82,286 (56.0 %)
Married/cohabiting
Yes 103,694 (70.6 %)
No 43,265 (29.4 %)
Age (years)
18-29 15,941 (10.8 %)
30-49 52,072 (35.4 %)
50-69 55,773 (38.0 %)
70+ 23,173 (15.8 %)
Number of prescribed drugs
02 65,604 (44.6 %)
37 57,153 (38.9 %)
8+ 24,202 (16.5 %)
Comorbidity
Diabetes mellitus 10,753 (7.3 %)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 4,998 (3.4 %)
Ischaemic heart diseases 2,709 (1.8 %)
Income (DKK per year)
<250.000 28,838 (19.6 %)
250.000499.999 46,105 (31.4 %)
500,000+ 72,016 (49.0 %)
Education
10 years 28,761 (19.6 %)
1112 years 17,861 (12.2 %)
13+ years 100,337 (68.3 %)
Eur J Clin Pharmacol
groups, the highest rate of PNA was for Blood and
bloodforming organs(ATC group B) (16.9 %) and the lowest
for Systemic hormonal preparations(ATC group H) (5.2 %)
and Cardiovascular system(ATC group C) (4.7 %). Among
the pre-selected drug classes, we found that PNA ranged from
9.1 % for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to
2.4 % for dihydropyridine derivates. Patients prescribed
NSAIDs, inhaled corticosteroids and bronchodilators showed
the highest rate of PNA.
Figure 1shows the number of days between the prescribing
of a prescription by the GP and the redemption of the pre-
scription by the patient at a pharmacy. We found that 65.2 %
of the patients redeemed their prescription on the same date
that the prescription was issued and that 89.3 % patients had
redeemed their prescription by day 30. The majority of the
patients filled their prescriptions within the first week.
Table 4shows the association of the different variables with
the rate of PNA in a mixed-effect multivariable logistic re-
gression model. Age had the strongest association with PNA,
with age 70+ years associated with a lower PNA, with an OR
of 0.48 [95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.450.51], compared
to age 1829 years. Similarly, having an income of > 500,000
DKK and having a diagnosis of chronic obstructive
Tabl e 2 Primary non-adherence
a
in different patient subgroups
Characteristics % Primary non-adherence
(unfilled/issued prescriptions)
Overall 9.3 (28,526/307,678)
Gender
Male 9.1 (10,758/117,646)
Female 9.4 (17,768/190,032)
Married/Cohabiting
Yes 8.8 (18,329/207,681)
No 10.2 (10,197/99,997)
Age (years)
1829 13.8 (3,819/27,651)
3049 10.9 (10,569/96,666)
5069 7.8 (9,079/116,097)
70+ 7.5 (5,059/67,264)
Polypharmacy
02 drugs 9.5 (9,897/103,875)
3-7 drugs 9.2 (11,182/121,819)
8+ drugs 9.1 (7,447/81,984)
Comorbidity
Diabetes mellitus 8.5 (2,772/32,570)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease
7.0 (1,343/19,270)
Ischaemic heart diseases 8.4 (664/7,877)
Income (DKK per year)
<250.000 10.0 (7,107/71,318)
250,000-499,999 9.3 (9,587/102,877)
500,000+ 8.9 (11,832/133,483)
Education
10 years 8.6 (6,152/71,153)
1112 years 10.2 (3,949/38,710)
13+ years 9.3 (18,425/197,815)
a
Primary non-adherence (PNA) is calculated as the proportion of pre-
scriptions that were not filled within 4 months of being issued by the
general practitioner (GP)
Tabl e 3 Primary non-adherence
a
according to different drug classes
b
Drug classes % PNA (unfilled
issued prescriptions)
Main groups of ATC
Gastrointestinal and metabolism (A) 9.9 (2,339/23,598)
Blood and blood-forming organs (B) 16.9 (974/5,760)
Cardiovascular system (C) 4.7 (1,661/35,421)
Dermatologicals (D) 10.2 (3,830/37,636)
Genitourinary system (G) 12.3 (1,759/14,354)
Systemic hormonal preparations (H) 5.2 (306/5,855)
Antiinfectives (J) 6.5 (4,168/64,372)
Antineoplastic and
Immunomodulating
drugs (L)
70.1 (138/197)
Musculoskeletal system (M) 9.4 (2,314/24,601)
Nervous system (N) 9.9 (3,967/40,092)
Antiparasitic products (P) 11.4 (553/4,852)
Respiratory system (R) 11.2 (3,531/ 31,402)
Sensory organs (S) 8.8 (1,593/18,114)
Various (V) 73.9 (88/119)
Specific drug subgroups
c
Proton pump inhibitors 6.9 (695/10,056)
Antidiabetics 4.0 (133/3,340)
Low-dose acetylsalicylic
acid (ASA)
6.9 (145/2,106)
Bendroflumethiazide 3.3 (96/2,923)
Dihydropyridine derivatives 2.4 (96/3,966)
Angiotensin-converting enzyme
(ACE) inhibitors
3.3 (44/1,322)
Angiotensin II receptor
(AT-II) antagonists
2.5 (142/5,580)
Statins 6.2 (309/4,984)
β-Lactams 3.2 (295/9,091)
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDs)
9.1 (1,815/20,046)
Tramadol and Codeine 5.2 (588/11,297)
Benzodiazepines (anxiolytics) 5.9 (174/2,960)
Selective serotonin re-uptake
inhibitors (SSRIs)
6.4 (283/4,445)
Bronchodilators 8.6 (470/5,449)
Inhaled corticosteroids 8.8 (167/1,889)
a
PNA is calculated as the proportion of prescriptions that were not filled
within 4 months of being issued
b
Classes/groups of the Anatomic Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classifi-
cation System
c
For definition of these drug classes, see Appendix
Eur J Clin Pharmacol
pulmonary disease were also associated with lower PNA
rates, with an OR of 0.77 and 0.80, respectively.
Polypharmacy, i.e. taking more than eight drugs,
showed an OR of 1.15 (95 % CI 1.101.21). While
larger practice size were associated with lower rates of
PNA, these estimates did not reach statistical signifi-
cance. Lastly, having a diagnosis of ischaemic heart
disease increased the risk of PNA, with an OR of
1.22. Gender, cohabitation and education had little or
no association with the degree of PNA.
Discussion
The results of this study show that overall, 9.3 % of patientsin
Danish primary care failed to fill their prescriptions within 4
months of issue during the study period. The lowest rate of
PNA was for drugs for the Cardiovascular system(ATC
group C). Most of the patients redeemed their prescription
within the first week. Age was found to be the most important
factor associated with PNA.
The primary strength of the study is its high internal valid-
ity due to the highquality of the data sources used [21,24]and
the large sample size.
Our study also has a number of limitations. First, the re-
quirement that all GPs included in this study had to be classified
as up-to-standardmight imply that the GPs included are not
representative of all Danish GPs. However, we have no reason
to believe, that up-to-standardGPs handle adherence prob-
lems better than other GPs in Denmark. A second potentially
important limitation is a lack of knowledge on the level of
agreement between the GP and patient regarding the treatment,
i.e. we do not know if the GP and the patient agreed on
initiating treatment the same day or 1 month after the prescrip-
tion was issued. Furthermore, the data contain no means to
uniquely identify a single prescription. Therefore, later prescrip-
tions redeemed for the same drug, issued by different pre-
scribers, would also result in the patient being classified as
adherent for the GP prescription, even though the original
prescription was never redeemed. This might decrease the
observed rate of PNA, especially among patients followed by
hospitals or other specialists. However, the rapid saturation seen
in Fig. 1, which shows that the vast majority of patients did pick
up their prescriptions within the first week of issuing indicates
that this factor did not play a major role.
In some studies, the PNA proportion was calculated for all
prescriptions [5,7,10,11,13,14,18,19] while in other
60
70
80
90
100
0102030
Primary adherence(%)
Time (days)
Fig. 1 Proportion of redeemed prescriptions during the first 30 days
following issuing of the prescription by the general practitioner
Tabl e 4 Mixed effects
a
logistic regression analysis of the dependence of
primary non-adherence on various patient- and GP-related variables
Patient- and GP-related variables Odds ratio [95 %
confidence interval]
Gender
Female (Reference)
Male 1.03 [0.991.06]
Cohabitation
No (Reference)
Yes 1.01 [0.961.05]
Age (years)
1829 (Reference)
3049 0.85 [0.800.89]
5069 0.55 [0.520.58]
70+ 0.48 [0.450.51]
Polypharmacy
02 drugs (Reference)
37 drugs 1.05 [1.011.09]
8+ drugs 1.15 [1.101.21]
Comorbidity
Diabetes mellitus 0.98 [0.931.04]
Chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease
0.80 [0.740.86]
Ischaemic heart diseases 1.22 [1.101.35]
Income (DKK)
<250,000 (Reference)
250,000499,999 0.91 [0.870.95]
500,000+ 0.77 [0.720.81]
Education
10 years (Reference)
1112 years 1.01 [0.951.06]
13+ years 0.96 [0.921.00]
Practice size
Solo GP (Reference)
2 GPs 0.74 [0.551.00]
>3 GPs 0.83 [0.651.04]
GP age
<50 years (Reference)
5059 years 1.00 [0.791.25]
>60 years 0.90 [0.671.21]
a
Random factors: Subject and prescriber
Eur J Clin Pharmacol
studiessuch as our studyonly the first prescription for a
new drug treatment was taken into account [810,1517].
This different methodology explains some of the apparent
discrepancy in reported PNA rates; if you include the second
or later prescriptions for a given drug, the likelihood that a
patient will stop treatment, i.e. not fill the prescription, condi-
tional on several previous prescriptions, is probably lower. To
our knowledge, only three studies have used an approach
similar to ours, i.e. studying new treatments outside the hos-
pital setting, namely, the two studies by Fischer et al. [9,10]
and the study by Shin et al. [16]. The overall rate found in our
study is markedly lower than the 2428 % reported by Fischer
et al. [9,10], but comparable to the rate of 9.8 % reported by
Shin et al. [16]. However, some differences in study design,
for example, the inclusion of specialist prescribers and chil-
dren, make the comparison difficult. Furthermore, it is likely
that the substantial differences in the structure of the health
care in the USA and Denmark explain a significant proportion
of the differences observed.
PNA varied by ATC drug class, ranging from 73.9 % for
drugs in the Var iou s category (ATC group V) to 4.7 % for
drugs related to the Cardiovascular systemcategory (ATC
group C). Although drugs in the categories Vari ous (ATC
group V) and Antineoplastic and immunomodulating
agents(ATC group L) had the highest rate of PNA, they
did not affect the overall PNA, as both drug classes are
prescribed infrequently in generally practice. In addition, the
Vari o u scategory includes drugs that are exempt from reim-
bursement, and patients might therefore buy them over-the-
counter to save prescriptions charges. Outside these two spe-
cial groups, drugs related to Blood and bloodforming or-
gans(ATC group B) had the highest rate of PNA (16.9 %).
The PNA for Antiinfectives(6.5 %) and for β-Lactams
(3.2 %) was lower than the overall rate of PNA, possibly due
to the former drug being used for the short-term treatment of
infectionsand patients usually needingthem urgently [14,17].
AccordingtoFig.1, most of the patients included in
this study redeemed their prescription within 1 week
after issuing. This result is confirmed in other studies
which also have reported that most prescriptions are
redeemed within 1 week [12,17]. About 90 % of the
patients who redeemed their prescriptions within
4 months redeemed their prescriptions within the first
week (data not shown). This was seen for all drug main
groups except the genitourinary system and sex hor-
mones, where only 80 % of those filling the prescrip-
tion did so within the first week. This group also
generally had a higher rate of PNA compared to the
other groups (Table 3).
Our findings have both a clinical and a general
research aspect. The clinical aspect is that GPs can
largely expect their patients to redeem their prescrip-
tions and to do so quite soon. We were also able to
identify the patients who were most likely to do so: The
embodiment of a compliant patient would be an elderly,
rich woman who is prescribed a cardiovascular drug by an
experienced doctor in a large practice. The research per-
spective is that GPs data are very useful for
pharmacoepidemiological research, as aptly illustrated by
the tremendous success of the General Practitioners
Research Database in the UK. The ultimate measure of
interest in pharmacoepidemiological research is what the
patients have actually ingested. One may argue that data
sources based on drug dispensing, such as the pharmacy-
based system, is one step closer to the actual ingestion rate
than data sources based on drug prescribing. However, this
would usually be a matter of non-differential misclassifica-
tion of drug exposure, and the approximately 10 % dis-
crepancy found in our study would rarely be critical. In
contrast, there are epidemiological designs that are particu-
larly vulnerable to exposure misclassification and where
accurate data on the timing of drug intake is crucial, such
as the case-crossover design and its variants [28]. In such
situations, one might prefer a different data source than a
GP-based system.
Conflicts of interest None.
Appendix
Tabl e 5 ATC codes used to specify the drug subgroups presented in the
bottom half of table 3
Anatomical subgroups ATC codes
Proton pump inhibitors A02BC
Antidiabetics A10
Low-dose ASA B01AC
Bendroflumethiazide with potassium chloride C03AB01
Dihydropyridine derivates C08C
ACE-inhibitors inclusive combination preparations C09B
AT-II antagonists inclusive combination preparations C09C and C09D
Statins C10AA
β-Lactams J01CA
NSAIDs M01A excl.
M01AX
Tramadol and codeine N02AX02 and
R05DA
Benzodiazepines (anxiolytics) N05BA
SSRIs N06AB
Bronchodilators R03AC
Inhaled corticosteroids R03BA
Eur J Clin Pharmacol
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... One study corrected their treatment gap for inpatient stays [85]. Analogously, the gap for filling a prescription to assess initiation varied between 3 days [45] and 4 months [130]. ∼25% of the initiation or persistence studies (12 out of 49) (supplementary material, appendix 2) cited a rationale for the chosen treatment gap (e.g. ...
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Background The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease 2023 report recommends medication adherence assessment in COPD as an action item. Healthcare databases provide opportunities for objective assessments; however, multiple methods exist. We aimed to systematically review the literature to describe existing methods to assess adherence in COPD in healthcare databases and to evaluate the reporting of influencing variables. Method We searched MEDLINE, Web of Science and Embase for peer-reviewed articles evaluating adherence to COPD medication in electronic databases, written in English, published up to 11 October 2022 (PROSPERO identifier CRD42022363449). Two reviewers independently conducted screening for inclusion and performed data extraction. Methods to assess initiation (dispensing of medication after prescribing), implementation (extent of use over a specific time period) and/or persistence (time from initiation to discontinuation) were listed descriptively. Each included study was evaluated for reporting variables with an impact on adherence assessment: inpatient stays, drug substitution, dose switching and early refills. Results 160 studies were included, of which four assessed initiation, 135 implementation and 45 persistence. Overall, one method was used to measure initiation, 43 methods for implementation and seven methods for persistence. Most of the included implementation studies reported medication possession ratio, proportion of days covered and/or an alteration of these methods. Only 11% of the included studies mentioned the potential impact of the evaluated variables. Conclusion Variations in adherence assessment methods are common. Attention to transparency, reporting of variables with an impact on adherence assessment and rationale for choosing an adherence cut-off or treatment gap is recommended.
... Similarly, although we could not verify whether the dispensed drugs were consumed, dispensing records provide a better estimate of consumption than prescription records, and the PRE2DUP is a validated and accurate method of constructing drug periods. 16,26 It is, however, possible that the studied drugs were used outside the two-week windows, either in short-term or sporadically, likely leading to worse outcomes than regular use. The Prescription Register data also limited our analysis to outpatients, as drug use in hospitals is not registered on an individual level. ...
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Background According to guidelines, psychotic depression should be treated with both antipsychotics and antidepressants, but current practice is largely unknown. We investigated the prevalence of antipsychotic and antidepressant use in first-episode psychotic depression and factors related to antipsychotic use after the diagnosis. Methods We identified individuals aged 16–65 with a first-episode diagnosis of psychotic depression (ICD-10 codes F32.3, F33.3) from nationwide data linkage of Finnish healthcare and population registers during 2000–2018. Point prevalence was measured as 2-week time windows every 3 months, investigating whether the individual had a modeled drug use period ongoing during the window or not, censoring to death and end of data linkage. Results The study population included 18,490 individuals (58.0% women; mean age 39.9 years, standard deviation 14.7). The prevalence of use for antidepressants (75.0%), antipsychotics (56.4%), and both (50.0%) were highest at 3 months after the diagnosis. The prevalence declined to 51.8%, 34.1%, and 28.7%, respectively, at 3 years after the diagnosis. In a logistic regression analysis, younger age (adjusted odds ratio < 25 vs. ≥55, 0.82 [95% confidence interval 0.73–0.91]), eating disorders (0.78 [0.66–0.92]), substance use disorders (0.80 [0.73–0.87]), and occupational inactivity (0.80 [0.73–0.87]) were associated with decreased odds of using antipsychotics at 3 months after diagnosis. Increased odds were found for diagnosis from inpatient care (1.74 [1.62–1.86]), and later year of cohort entry (2010–2014 vs. 2000–2004, 1.56 [1.42–1.70]). Conclusion At most, half of the individuals with newly diagnosed psychotic depression used both antidepressants and antipsychotics. This likely has a negative impact on treatment success.
... The study's main limitation is that medication adherence is not fully accounted for. However, the data stems from redeemed prescriptions, which increases the likelihood of actual consumption compared with using issued prescriptions [20]. Another limitation is that although cancer types have different prognoses, we do not stratify by individual cancer type, thus limiting the clinical inference and interpretability of our findings. ...
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Introduction: Certain clinical events reduce life expectancy and necessitate a reassessment of patient treatment. Objective: To describe medication changes in relation to a cancer diagnosis and the end of life and to highlight challenges and limitations with such descriptions. Methods: From a cohort with all Danish patients with type 2 diabetes, we matched patients with incident cancer during 2000-2021 (n = 41,745) with patients without cancer (n = 166,994) using propensity scores. We described their medication usage from cancer diagnosis until death. Results: The 1- and 5-year mortality were 51% and 86%, respectively, in the cancer group, and 13% and 59% in the non-cancer group. In relation to cancer diagnosis and death, the use of symptomatic medications (e.g., opioids, benzodiazepines) increased (10-60 incident medications per 100 patient-months), and the use of preventive medications (e.g., antihypertensives, statins) decreased (5-30% fewer users). The changes in relation to the diagnosis were driven by patients with short observed lengths of survival (< 2 years). In contrast, changes occurring within a year before death were less dependent on survival strata, and > 60% used preventive medications in their last months. Conclusions: Medication changes in relation to a cancer diagnosis were frequent and correlated to the length of survival. The results showcase the challenges and limited clinical utility of anchoring analyses on events or death. While the former diluted the results by averaging changes across patients with vastly different clinical courses, the latter leveraged information unavailable to the treating clinicians. While medication changes were common near death, preventive medications were often used until death.
... 18,19 Primary non-adherence to prescribed medications is a challenge in pharmacological treatment. 20 Primary adherence occurs when a patient successfully fills the first medication prescription within a specified number of days after the prescription is issued. 21 In contrast, secondary adherence occurs when the patient successfully refills their prescription within a specified number of days after the dispensing of the first prescription. ...
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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has affected healthcare systems globally. Various health care technologies have been used to mitigate the risk of disease transmission. Telemedicine is one such technology, and remote consulting and prescribing comprise one of its key aspects. In Saudi Arabia, telephone health services have been widely used through the free Medical Consultation Call Center (937). This platform facilitates medical consultations for all citizens, residents, and visitors. After consultations, healthcare providers are able to issue authenticated e-prescriptions using the Anat platform. Objectives To explore the utilization of the Anat remote prescription system in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify the factors associated with antibiotic prescription and primary medication adherence. Methods This retrospective analysis included data from the Anat e‑prescription system using a stratified random sample of 25000 prescriptions issued in Saudi Arabia in 2020. Predictive factors related to the patients, practitioners, and prescriptions were identified through bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results Out of 25,000 e-prescriptions, 8885 were dispensed, resulting in a 35.5% primary medication adherence rate. The significant predictors of primary adherence were children, respiratory diseases, and antibacterial drugs. In addition, antibiotics made up 32.1% of the e-prescriptions. The prescription of antibiotics was significantly associated with male sex, children, genitourinary system diseases, and being treated by radiologists. Conclusions Almost two thirds 62.2% of e-prescriptions were undispensed, with antibiotic eprescriptions at 32.1%. Findings emphasize the need to enhance primary medication adherence and antibiotic prescription interventions. These findings could aid decision-makers in improving patient-centered e-prescribing practices.
... The patients are central to ensuring correct medication, as they are often responsible for buying, remembering and taking their medication [23]. One Danish study reported that 7.5% of patients aged 70 + years fail to redeem the first prescription of a new drug prescribed in general practice [24]. ...
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Background On average, older patients use five or more medications daily. A consequence is an increased risk of adverse drug reactions, interactions, or medication errors. Therefore, it is important to understand the challenges experienced by the patients, relatives, and healthcare professionals pertinent to the concomitant use of many drugs. Methods We conducted a qualitative study using focus group interviews to collect information from patients, relatives, and healthcare professionals regarding older patients’ management of prescribed medicine. We interviewed seven patients using five or more medications daily, three relatives, three general practitioners, nine nurses from different healthcare sectors, one home care assistant, two hospital physicians, and four pharmacists. Results The following themes were identified: (1) Unintentional non-adherence, (2) Intentional non-adherence, (3) Generic substitution, (4) Medication lists, (5) Timing and medication schedule, (6) Medication reviews and (7) Dose dispensing/pill organizers. Conclusion Medication is the subject of concern among patients and relatives. They become confused and insecure about information from different actors and the package leaflets. Therefore, patients often request a thorough medication review to provide an overview, knowledge of possible side effects and interactions, and a clarification of the medication’s timing. In addition, patients, relatives and nurses all request an indication of when medicine should be taken, including allowable deviations from this timing. Therefore, prescribing physicians should prioritize communicating information regarding these matters when prescribing.
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Pragmatic, randomized, controlled trials hold the potential to directly inform clinical decision making and health policy regarding the treatment of people experiencing pain. Pragmatic trials are designed to replicate or are embedded within routine clinical care and are increasingly valued to bridge the gap between trial research and clinical practice, especially in multidimensional conditions, such as pain and in nonpharmacological intervention research. To maximize the potential of pragmatic trials in pain research, the careful consideration of each methodological decision is required. Trials aligned with routine practice pose several challenges, such as determining and enrolling appropriate study participants, deciding on the appropriate level of flexibility in treatment delivery, integrating information on concomitant treatments and adherence, and choosing comparator conditions and outcome measures. Ensuring data quality in real-world clinical settings is another challenging goal. Furthermore, current trials in the field would benefit from analysis methods that allow for a differentiated understanding of effects across patient subgroups and improved reporting of methods and context, which is required to assess the generalizability of findings. At the same time, a range of novel methodological approaches provide opportunities for enhanced efficiency and relevance of pragmatic trials to stakeholders and clinical decision making. In this study, best-practice considerations for these and other concerns in pragmatic trials of pain treatments are offered and a number of promising solutions discussed. The basis of these recommendations was an Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials (IMMPACT) meeting organized by the Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks.
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Objective: The authors investigated the clinical outcomes of commonly used antidepressants among older adults who initiated first-time antidepressants for depression by analyzing the 1-year risk of selected clinically relevant outcomes. Methods: This cohort study used nationwide Danish registry data and included all older adults who redeemed a first-time (since 1995) antidepressant prescription with an indication of depression between 2006 and 2017. Only the 10 most frequently redeemed antidepressants were included in the analyses. Outcomes included discontinuation, switching, augmentation, psychiatric hospital contacts, suicide attempt or self-harm, fall-related injuries, cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using Poisson regression models, controlling for potential confounders. Results: The study sample included 93,883 older adults (mean age, 78.0 years, SD=7.5 years; 56% female). The most frequently prescribed antidepressants were selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (citalopram, 47.04%; escitalopram, 11.81%; fluoxetine, 0.55%; paroxetine, 0.52%; sertraline, 11.17%), serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (duloxetine, 0.71%; venlafaxine, 1.54%), a tricyclic antidepressant (amitriptyline, 1.86%), and two atypical antidepressants (mianserin, 1.93%; mirtazapine, 22.87%). Compared with users of sertraline (the reference drug in this analysis, as Danish guidelines recommend it as the first-choice treatment for depression), users of most of the other nine antidepressants had a significantly higher risk of discontinuation (e.g., mirtazapine: IRR=1.55, 95% CI=1.50-1.61; venlafaxine: IRR=1.22, 95% CI=1.12-1.32), switching (amitriptyline: IRR=1.45, 95% CI=1.15-1.81; venlafaxine: IRR=1.47, 95% CI=1.20-1.80), augmentation, cardiovascular events, and mortality. Overall, mirtazapine and venlafaxine users had the most adverse outcomes compared with sertraline users. These results remained consistent in analyses stratified by sex and age (≤75 years vs. >75 years). Conclusions: This real-world evidence suggests that clinical outcomes may vary among initiators of commonly used antidepressants in older adults, which may inform benefit-risk evaluation at treatment initiation, and highlights the importance of careful selection of antidepressant treatment.
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Importance Ranitidine, the most widely used histamine-2 receptor antagonist (H 2 RA), was withdrawn because of N-nitrosodimethylamine impurity in 2020. Given the worldwide exposure to this drug, the potential risk of cancer development associated with the intake of known carcinogens is an important epidemiological concern. Objective To examine the comparative risk of cancer associated with the use of ranitidine vs other H 2 RAs. Design, Setting, and Participants This new-user active comparator international network cohort study was conducted using 3 health claims and 9 electronic health record databases from the US, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France, South Korea, and Taiwan. Large-scale propensity score (PS) matching was used to minimize confounding of the observed covariates with negative control outcomes. Empirical calibration was performed to account for unobserved confounding. All databases were mapped to a common data model. Database-specific estimates were combined using random-effects meta-analysis. Participants included individuals aged at least 20 years with no history of cancer who used H 2 RAs for more than 30 days from January 1986 to December 2020, with a 1-year washout period. Data were analyzed from April to September 2021. Exposure The main exposure was use of ranitidine vs other H 2 RAs (famotidine, lafutidine, nizatidine, and roxatidine). Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was incidence of any cancer, except nonmelanoma skin cancer. Secondary outcomes included all cancer except thyroid cancer, 16 cancer subtypes, and all-cause mortality. Results Among 1 183 999 individuals in 11 databases, 909 168 individuals (mean age, 56.1 years; 507 316 [55.8%] women) were identified as new users of ranitidine, and 274 831 individuals (mean age, 58.0 years; 145 935 [53.1%] women) were identified as new users of other H 2 RAs. Crude incidence rates of cancer were 14.30 events per 1000 person-years (PYs) in ranitidine users and 15.03 events per 1000 PYs among other H 2 RA users. After PS matching, cancer risk was similar in ranitidine compared with other H 2 RA users (incidence, 15.92 events per 1000 PYs vs 15.65 events per 1000 PYs; calibrated meta-analytic hazard ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.97-1.12). No significant associations were found between ranitidine use and any secondary outcomes after calibration. Conclusions and Relevance In this cohort study, ranitidine use was not associated with an increased risk of cancer compared with the use of other H 2 RAs. Further research is needed on the long-term association of ranitidine with cancer development.
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Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), mainly Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are chronic diseases causing a lifelong burden and often need sustained treatment throughout a patient's life. Both the incidence and prevalence of IBD has increased in the last decade. Evidence showing the drug costs to IBD patients in Finland is limited. No earlier study has evaluated the drug costs of IBD patients in Finland. Here, we thoroughly assessed these costs. Methods: A structured questionnaire, hospital records and national registers were combined to comprehensively assess the actual costs of drug purchases made by IBD patients. The study sample comprised 561 patients. Results: Total annual mean drug costs were 1428€ per patient. CD patients had higher annual costs than UC patients at 2369€ and 902€, respectively. CD patients also had higher costs in the immunosuppressant, corticosteroid, and biologic subgroup analyses. In addition, C-reactive protein, serum albumin and fecal calprotectin levels had a correlation with costs if the patient had needed corticosteroids. In addition, women reported having a worse quality of life (QoL) but had lower total costs. Conclusions: Pharmaceutical drugs are major factors that affect the costs of IBD treatment, and the increased use of biologics has raised these costs.
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Despite effective therapies for many conditions, patients find it difficult to adhere to prescribed treatments. Technology-mediated interventions (TMIs) are increasingly being used with the hope of improving adherence. To assess the effects of TMI, intended to enhance patient adherence to prescribed medications, on both medication adherence and clinical outcomes. A secondary in-depth analysis was conducted of the subset of studies that utilized technology in at least one component of the intervention from an updated Cochrane review on all interventions for enhancing medication adherence. We included studies that clearly described an information and communication technology or medical device as the sole or major component of the adherence intervention. Thirty-eight studies were eligible for in-depth review. Only seven had a low risk of bias for study design features, primary adherence, and clinical outcomes. Eighteen studies used a TMI for education and/or counseling, 11 studies used a TMI for self-monitoring and/or feedback, and nine studies used electronic reminders. Studies used a variety of TMIs, with telephone the most common technology in use. Studies targeted a wide distribution of diseases and used a variety of adherence and clinical outcome measures. A minority targeted children and adolescents. Fourteen studies reported significant effects in both adherence and clinical outcome measures. This review provides evidence for the inconsistent effectiveness of TMI for medication adherence and clinical outcomes. These results must be interpreted with caution due to a lack of high-quality studies. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com For numbered affiliations see end of article.
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Medication non-adherence frequently leads to suboptimal patient outcomes. Primary non-adherence, which occurs when a patient does not fill an initial prescription, is particularly important at the time of hospital discharge because new medications are often being prescribed to treat an illness rather than for prevention. We studied older adults consecutively discharged from a general internal medicine service at a large urban teaching hospital to determine the prevalence of primary non-adherence and identify characteristics associated with primary non-adherence. We reviewed electronic prescriptions, electronic discharge summaries and pharmacy dispensing data from April to August 2010 for drugs listed on the public formulary. Primary non-adherence was defined as failure to fill one or more new prescriptions after hospital discharge. In addition to descriptive analyses, we developed a logistical regression model to identify patient characteristics associated with primary non-adherence. There were 493 patients eligible for inclusion in our study, 232 of whom were prescribed new medications. In total, 66 (28%) exhibited primary non-adherence at 7 days after discharge and 55 (24%) at 30 days after discharge. Examples of medications to which patients were non-adherent included antibiotics, drugs for the management of coronary artery disease (e.g. beta-blockers, statins), heart failure (e.g. beta-blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, furosemide), stroke (e.g. statins, clopidogrel), diabetes (e.g. insulin), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (e.g. long-acting bronchodilators, prednisone). Discharge to a nursing home was associated with an increased risk of primary non-adherence (OR 2.25, 95% CI 1.01-4.95). Primary non-adherence after medications are newly prescribed during a hospitalization is common, and was more likely to occur in patients discharged to a nursing home.
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Patients with hypertension are primarily treated in general practice. However, major studies of patients with hypertension are rarely based on populations from primary care. Knowledge of blood pressure (BP) control rates in patients with diabetes and/or cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), who have additional comorbidities, is lacking. We aimed to investigate the association of comorbidities with BP control using a large cohort of hypertensive patients from primary care practices. Using the Danish General Practice Database, we included 37 651 patients with hypertension from 231 general practices in Denmark. Recommended BP control was defined as BP <140/90 mm Hg in general and <130/80 mm Hg in patients with diabetes. The overall control rate was 33.2% (95% CI: 32.7 to 33.7). Only 16.5% (95% CI: 15.8 to 17.3) of patients with diabetes achieved BP control, whereas control rates ranged from 42.9% to 51.4% for patients with ischemic heart diseases or cerebrovascular or peripheral vascular diseases. A diagnosis of cardiac heart failure in addition to diabetes and/or CVD was associated with higher BP control rates, compared with men and women having only diabetes and/or CVD. A diagnosis of asthma in addition to diabetes and CVD was associated with higher BP control rates in men. In Danish general practice, only 1 of 3 patients diagnosed with hypertension had a BP below target. BP control rates differ substantially within comorbidities. Other serious comorbidities in addition to diabetes and/or CVD were not associated with lower BP control rates; on the contrary, in some cases the BP control rates were higher when the patient was diagnosed with other serious comorbidities in addition to diabetes and/or CVD.
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Background Primary non-adherence refers to the patient not redeeming a prescribed medication at some point during drug therapy. Research has mainly focused on secondary non-adherence. Prior to this study, the overall rate of primary non-adherence in general practice in Iceland was not known. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of primary non-adherence, test whether it is influenced by a moderate increase in patient copayment implemented in 2010 and examine the difference between copayment groups (general versus concession patients).MethodsA population-based data linkage study, wherein prescriptions issued electronically by 140 physicians at 16 primary health care centres in the Reykjavik capital area during two periods before and after increases in copayment were matched with those dispensed in pharmacies, the difference constituting primary non-adherence (population: 200&emsp14;000; patients: 21&emsp14;571; prescriptions: 22&emsp14;991). Eight drug classes were selected to reflect symptom relief and degree of copayment. Two-tailed chi-square test and odds ratios for non-adherence by patient copayment groups were calculated. RESULTS: The rate of primary non-adherence was 6.2%. It was lower after the increased copayment, reaching statistical significance for hypertensive agents, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and antipsychotics. Generally, primary non-adherence, except for antibacterials and NSAIDs, was highest in old-age pensioners. CONCLUSIONS: Primary non-adherence in Icelandic general practice was within the range of prior studies undertaken in other countries and was not adversely affected by the moderate increase in patient copayment. Older patients showed a different pattern of primary non-adherence. This may possibly be explained by higher prevalence of medicine use.
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Background. Sentinel Data Capture is an IT program designed to collect data automatically from GPs' electronic health record system. Data include ICPC diagnoses, National Health Service disbursement codes, laboratory analysis, and prescribed drugs. Quality feedback reports are generated individually for each practice on the basis of the accumulated data and are available online only for the specific practice. Objective. To describe the development of the quality of care concerning drug prescriptions for diabetes patients listed with GPs using the Data Capture module. Methods. In a cohort study, among 8320 registered patients with diabetes, we analyzed the change in the proportion of medication for uncontrolled cases of diabetes. Results. From 2009 to 2010, there was an absolute risk reduction of 1.35% (0.89–1.81: P < 0.001) in proportion of persons not in antidiabetic medication despite an HbA1c above 7.0. Similarly, there was a 4.51% (3.42–5.61: P < 0.001) absolute risk reduction in patients not in antihypertensive treatment despite systolic blood pressure above 130 mm Hg and 4.73% (3.56–5.90: P < 0.001) absolute risk reduction in patients with total cholesterol level above 4.5 mmol/L and not receiving lipid-lowering treatment. Conclusions. Structured collection of electronic data from general practice and feedback with reports on quality of care for diabetes patient seems to give a significant reduction in proportion of patients with no medical treatment over one year for participating GPs. Due to lack of a control group, we are, however, not able to say if the drop in the proportion of uncontrolled cases is a result of participation in collection of electronic data and feedback alone.
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General practice is the corner stone of Danish primary health care. General practitioners (GPs) are similar to family physicians in the United States. On average, all Danes have 6.9 contacts per year with their GP (in-person, telephone, or E-mail consultation). General practice is characterized by 5 key components: (1) a list system, with an average of close to 1600 persons on the list of a typical GP; (2) the GP as gatekeeper and first-line provider in the sense that a referral from a GP is required for most office-based specialists and always for in- and outpatient hospital treatment; (3) an after-hours system staffed by GPs on a rota basis; (4) a mixed capitation and fee-for-service system; and (5) GPs are self-employed, working on contract for the public funder based on a national agreement that details not only services and reimbursement but also opening hours and required postgraduate education. The contract is (re)negotiated every 2 years. General practice is embedded in a universal tax-funded health care system in which GP and hospital services are free at the point of use. The current system has evolved over the past century and has shown an ability to adapt flexibly to new challenges. Practice units are fairly small: close to 2 GPs per unit plus nurses and secretaries. The units are fully computerized, that is, with computer-based patient records and submission of prescriptions digitally to pharmacies etc. Over the past few years a decrease in solo practices has been seen and is expected to accelerate, in part because of the GP age structure, with many GPs retiring and new GPs not wanting to practice alone. This latter workforce trend is pointing toward a new model with employed GPs, particularly in rural areas.
Article
Background: The literature on patient adherence to treatment includes hundreds of empirical studies. A comprehensive examination of the findings requires the organization and quantification that is possible with meta-analysis. Objectives: The goals of this research are retrieval, compilation, and averaging of adherence rates in all published empirical studies from 1948 to 1998; assessment of variation according to sample characteristics, time period of publication, measurement method, disease, and regimen; and examination of the effects on adherence of patient demographic characteristics. Methods: We calculated a meta-analysis of 569 studies reporting adherence to medical treatment prescribed by a nonpsychiatrist physician, and 164 studies providing correlations between adherence and patients' age, gender, education, and income/socioeconomic status; group comparison and multiple regression analysis of moderators. Results: The average nonadherence rate is 24.8%. Controlling for intercorrelations among moderator variables, adherence is significantly higher in more recent and smaller studies and in those involving medication regimens and adult samples. The use of physical tests and self-report have respectively significant and borderline negative effects on the level of adherence, and disease severity and use of the medical record have no significant effects. Adherence is highest in HIV disease, arthritis, gastrointestinal disorders, and cancer, and lowest in pulmonary disease, diabetes, and sleep. Demographic effects on adherence are small and moderated by sample, regimen, and measurement variables. Conclusions: This review offers insights into the literature on patient adherence, providing direction for future research. A focus on reliability and validity of adherence measurement and systematic study of substantive and methodologic moderators are recommended for future research on patient adherence.
Article
To measure primary nonadherence (PNA) rates for 10 therapeutic drug groups and identify factors associated with PNA to chronic and acute medications. Retrospective cohort study. New prescriptions written in an integrated healthcare system for study drugs were identified between December 1, 2009, and February 28, 2010. PNA was defined as the failure to fill a prescription within 14 days of when it was written. PNA rates were calculated by drug group and descriptive statistics were performed. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify significant patient, provider, and prescription characteristics associated with PNA. Results were stratified by acute versus chronic treatment. A total of 569,095 new prescriptions were written during the 3-month period. Across all drug groups, the PNA rate was 9.8%. PNA rates for individual drug groups varied and were highest for osteoporosis medications (22.4%) and antihyperlipidemics (22.3%). Patients who filled at least 1 prescription in the prior year (odds ratio [OR], 95% confidence interval [CI] for acute = 0.06 [0.06-0.07], for chronic = 0.11 [0.10-0.12]) or had a prescription for a symptomatic disease (OR = 0.51 [0.48-0.53]) were more likely to fill their prescription. Patients were more likely to be primary nonadherent if they were black (OR acute = 1.30 [1.25-1.36], chronic = 1.26 [1.18-1.33]) or treatment-naive to therapy (OR acute = 2.52 [2.36-2.7], chronic=1.07 [1.03-1.12]). Overall PNA was 9.8% but individual PNA rates varied by therapeutic drug group. Factors of PNA were mostly consistent across drug groups, but some depended on whether the treatment was acute or chronic.