ArticlePharmacoEconomics2001
The cost of inadequate prescriptions for hypolipidaemic drugs. VICAF Group.
Article in PharmacoEconomics, 2001. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Development and validation of a new Prescription Quality Index.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2010Article
- The influence of guidelines on the use of statins: analysis of prescribing trends 1998-2002.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2005Article
- High prevalence and undertreatment of hypercholesterolaemia in participants in a public stroke prevention programme in austria.Clinical drug investigation · 2005Article
- Pharmacoeconomics of lipid-lowering drugs.Current atherosclerosis reports · 2003Review
- Assessment of quality of prescribing in patients of hypertension at primary and secondary health care facilities using the Prescription Quality Index (PQI) tool.Indian journal of pharmacologyObservational
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe high consumption of hypolipidaemic agents warrants the study of the costs caused by these medicines being inadequately prescribed.
objectiveTo quantify the economic cost generated in 1 year in primary care by inadequate (or unnecessary) prescriptions for hypolipidaemic drugs.
methodsA cross-sectional study based on hypolipidaemic drug prescriptions for a population of pensioners ordered during 1 year by 49 family physicians from 4 health areas in Madrid, Spain. Each doctor completed a data collection sheet for each patient for whom a hypolipidaemic agent was prescribed. The adequacy of each prescription was evaluated according to 2 quality levels: for level 1, it was necessary to have knowledge of the following parameters: total cholesterol level at the start of treatment, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level, whether dietary intervention preceded pharmacological treatment, patient age and risk factors; for level 2, it was not necessary to have knowledge of either diet before pharmacological treatment or LDL-C levels. Inadequate expenditure was quantified by physician, by type of doctor who initiated the pharmacological treatment (the family physician, specialist, other doctor), therapeutic group and agent. STUDY PERSPECTIVE: Primary healthcare management of 4 public health areas.
resultsThe cost of inadequate prescriptions for hypolipidaemic drugs reached 116,480.60 US dollars ($US; 1997 values) for quality level 1 and $US37,893.37 for level 2. 12.3% of the health professionals ordered all their prescriptions inadequately (level 1). Of the total inadequate prescription expenditure, 20.4% represented treatments initiated by family physicians and 35.3% by specialists (level 1). Statins made up 78.2% of the total cost; the inadequate expenditure for this therapeutic group reached $US88,797 (level 1). Of the prescriptions for fibrates, 88% were inadequate (level 1).
conclusionsIn this study, 67% of prescriptions for hypolipidaemic medicines were ordered inadequately in the pensioner population, which represents a considerable pharmacological expenditure. This percentage and the mean cost per inadequate prescription was higher if a specialist was the professional initiating the treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to run pharmaceutical prescription quality programmes with both primary care physicians and specialists involved.
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