Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26355061›Full record

ArticleHealth affairs (Project Hope)2015

Increasing Prescription Length Could Cut Cardiovascular Disease Burden And Produce Savings In South Africa.

Thomas Gaziano, Sylvia Cho, Stephen Sy, Ankur Pandya, Naomi S Levitt, Krisela Steyn

Abstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in Health affairs (Project Hope), 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Thomas GazianoThomas Gaziano (tgaziano@partners.org) is an assistant professor in the Cardiovascular Division of Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Sylvia ChoSylvia Cho is a research assistant in the Center for Health Decision Science in the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston.
Stephen SyStephen Sy is a programmer at the Center for Health Decision Science in the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
Ankur PandyaAnkur Pandya is an assistant professor of health policy and management at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
Naomi S LevittNaomi S. Levitt is director of the Division of Diabetes and the Chronic Diseases Initiative for Africa, both at Old Groote Schuur Hospital, in Cape Town, South Africa.
Krisela SteynKrisela Steyn is associate director of the Chronic Diseases Initiative for Africa, at Old Groote Schuur Hospital.

Funding

Global Cardiovascular Disease Policy Model for Screening Prevention and TreatmentR01HL104284 · NHLBI · HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · PI GAZIANO, THOMAS A · 2010 to 2014
$2.5M
NHLBI NIH HHS 5R01HL104284-04NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL104284
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

South Africa's rates of statin use are among the world's lowest, despite statins' demonstrated effectiveness for people with a high blood cholesterol level or history of cardiovascular disease. Almost 5 percent of the country's total mortality has been attributed to high cholesterol levels, fueled in part by low levels of statin adherence. Drawing upon experience elsewhere, we used a microsimulation model of cardiovascular disease to investigate the health and economic impacts of increasing prescription length from the standard thirty days to either sixty or ninety days, for South African adults on a stable statin regimen. Increasing prescription length to sixty or ninety days could save 1,694 or 2,553 lives per million adults, respectively. In addition, annual per patient costs related to cardiovascular disease would decrease by $152.41 and $210.29, respectively. Savings would largely accrue to patients in the form of time savings and reduced transportation costs, as a result of less frequent trips to the pharmacy. Increasing statin prescription length would both save resources and improve health outcomes in South Africa.

Indexed as

Cost SavingsAdultAgedCardiovascular DiseasesCost-Benefit AnalysisDeveloping CountriesDrug MonitoringDrug PrescriptionsFemaleHumansHydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase InhibitorsMaleMiddle AgedModels, EconomicSouth AfricaTime FactorsHydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitorscardiovascular diseasecost-effectivenessmedication adherenceprescription lengthstatins

Identifiers

PMID26355061
PMCPMC4816639

What OpenQuestion holds

Texttitle and abstract
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.