Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27545670›Full record

SynthesisBMC public health2016

Prescribing indicators at primary health care centers within the WHO African region: a systematic analysis (1995-2015).

Richard Ofori-Asenso, Petra Brhlikova, Allyson M Pollock

Open access · goldAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC public health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 102 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
102citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
10.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
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

102 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 238 citations in OpenAlex.

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  3. Risk factors forJournal of global health · 2017
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  17. Minimising inhaled corticosteroids for COPD.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2024
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42 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

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

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Richard Ofori-AsensoResearch Unit, Health Policy Consult, P. O. Box WJ 537, Weija-Accra, Ghana. asensox215@gmail.com.
Petra BrhlikovaCentre for Primary Care and Public Health, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London, Yvonne Carter Building, 58 Turner Street, London, E1 2AB, UK.
Allyson M PollockCentre for Primary Care and Public Health, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London, Yvonne Carter Building, 58 Turner Street, London, E1 2AB, UK.
Queen Mary University of London · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundRational medicine use is essential to optimize quality of healthcare delivery and resource utilization. We aim to conduct a systematic review of changes in prescribing patterns in the WHO African region and comparison with WHO indicators in two time periods 1995-2005 and 2006-2015.

methodsSystematic searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of science, Africa-Wide Nipad, Africa Journals Online (AJOL), Google scholar and International Network for Rational Use of Drugs (INRUD) Bibliography databases to identify primary studies reporting prescribing indicators at primary healthcare centres (PHCs) in Africa. This was supplemented by a manual search of retrieved references. We assessed the quality of studies using a 14-point scoring system modified from the Downs and Black checklist with inclusions of recommendations in the WHO guidelines.

resultsForty-three studies conducted in 11 African countries were included in the overall analysis. These studies presented prescribing indicators based on a total 141,323 patient encounters across 572 primary care facilities. The results of prescribing indicators were determined as follows; average number of medicines prescribed per patient encounter = 3.1 (IQR 2.3-4.8), percentage of medicines prescribed by generic name =68.0 % (IQR 55.4-80.3), Percentage of encounters with antibiotic prescribed =46.8 % (IQR 33.7-62.8), percentage of encounters with injection prescribed =25.0 % (IQR 18.7-39.5) and the percentage of medicines prescribed from essential medicines list =88.0 % (IQR 76.3-94.1). Prescribing indicators were generally worse in private compared with public facilities. Analysis of prescribing across two time points 1995-2005 and 2006-2015 showed no consistent trends.

conclusionsPrescribing indicators for the African region deviate significantly from the WHO reference targets. Increased collaborative efforts are urgently needed to improve medicine prescribing practices in Africa with the aim of enhancing the optimal utilization of scarce resources and averting negative health consequences.

Indexed as

Guideline AdherenceAfricaAnti-Bacterial AgentsDelivery of Health CareDrug PrescriptionsDrugs, EssentialHealth ResourcesHumansInjectionsPractice Patterns, Physicians'Primary Health CareRetrospective StudiesWorld Health OrganizationAnti-Bacterial AgentsDrugs, EssentialAfricaDrug use indicatorsMedicine utilization studiesPharmacoepidemiologyPrescribing evaluationPrescribing indicatorsSystematic reviews

Identifiers

PMID27545670
PMCPMC4993007
OpenAlexW2488870798

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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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.