ArticleBMC family practice2014
Drugs prescribed by general practitioners according to age, gender and socioeconomic status after adjustment for multimorbidity level.
Article in BMC family practice, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Pharmacoepidemiology in pregnancy: analysis protocol for an observational cohort study in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink.Wellcome open research · 2022Article
- Association Between Neighborhood Deprivation and Heart Failure Among Patients With Diabetes Mellitus: A 10-Year Follow-Up Study in Sweden.Journal of cardiac failure · 2020Article
- Chronic conditions and multimorbidity in a primary care population: a study in the Swiss Sentinel Surveillance Network (Sentinella).International journal of public health · 2018Article
- The prevalence and determinants of polypharmacy at age 69: a British birth cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2018Article
- Associations Between Polypharmacy and Cognitive and Physical Capability: A British Birth Cohort Study.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2018Article
- Are men under-treated and women over-treated with antidepressants? Findings from a cross-sectional survey in Sweden.BJPsych bulletin · 2017Article
- Indication for pharmacological treatment is often lacking: a cross-sectional study on the quality of drug therapy among the elderly.BMC geriatrics · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAge, gender and socioeconomic status have been shown to be associated with the use of prescription drugs, even after adjustment for multimorbidity. General practitioners have a holistic and patient-centred perspective and our hypothesis is that this may reflect on the prescription of drugs. In Sweden the patient may seek secondary care without a letter of referral and the liability of the prescription of drugs accompanies the patient, which makes it suitable for this type of research. In this study we examine the odds of having prescription drug use in the population and the rates of prescription drugs among patients, issued in primary health care, according to age, gender and socioeconomic status after adjustment for multimorbidity level.
methodData were collected on all individuals above 20 years of age in Östergötland county with about 400 000 inhabitants in year 2006. The John Hopkins ACG Case-mix was used as a proxy for multimorbidity level. Odds ratio (OR) of having prescription drugs issued in primary health care in the population and rates of prescription drug use among patients in primary health care, stated as incidence rate ratio (IRR), according to age, gender and socioeconomic status were calculated and adjusted for multimorbidity.
resultsAfter adjustment for multimorbidity, individuals 80 years or older had higher odds ratio (OR 3.37 (CI 95% 3.22-3.52)) and incidence rate ratio (IRR 6.24 (CI 95% 5.79-6.72)) for prescription drug use. Male individuals had a lower odds ratio of having prescription drugs (OR 0.66 (CI 95% 0.64-0.69)), but among patients males had a slightly higher incidence rate of drug use (IRR 1.06 (CI 95% 1.04-1.09)). Individuals with the highest income had the lowest odds ratio of having prescription drugs and individuals with the second lowest income had the highest odds ratio of having prescription drugs (OR 1.10 (CI 95% 1.07-1.13)). Individuals with the highest education had the lowest odds ratio of having prescription drugs (OR 0.61 (CI 95% 0.54-0.67)).
conclusionAge, gender and socioeconomic status are associated with large differences in the use of prescribed drugs in primary health care, even after adjustment for multimorbidity level.
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