SynthesisThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2018
Impact of issuing longer- versus shorter-duration prescriptions: a systematic review.
Synthesis in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Dispensing practices issue shorter prescription lengths compared with non-dispensing practices: a quasi-experimental cross-sectional study.BJGP open · 2026Article
- PrEP Prescription Lengths: Associations with Patient Retention, On-Time Renewal and Demographics.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Impact of a real-time prescription benefit on adherence and utilization of low-cost prescription alternatives for members new to diabetes treatment.Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy · 2025Article
- Variation in duration of repeat prescriptions: a primary care cohort study in England.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Article
- Causal analysis of the National Chronic Disease Management Program on intracerebral hemorrhage mortality.Medicine · 2025Article
- Prescription and dispensing duration of medicines for hypertension and other chronic conditions: a review of international policies and evidence to inform the Australian setting.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2024Review
- Hypertension care during the COVID-19 pandemic in an integrated health care system.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2023Article
- Hypertension treatment capacity in India by increased workforce, greater task-sharing, and extended prescription period: a modelling study.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2023Article
- Effects of Real-time Prescription Benefit Recommendations on Patient Out-of-Pocket Costs: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA internal medicine · 2022Article
- Drivers and scorecards to improve hypertension control in primary care practice: Recommendations from the HEARTS in the Americas Innovation Group.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2022Article
- Twelve month oral contraceptive pill prescriptions: Role of policy mandates on utilization.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2022Article
- Association Between Cost-Saving Prescription Policy Changes and Adherence to Chronic Disease Medications: an Observational Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Observational
- [Drivers and scorecards to improve hypertension control in primary care practice: Recommendations from the HEARTS in the Americas Innovation GroupFatores impulsionadores e scorecards para melhorar o controle da hipertensão arterial na atenção primária: recomendações do Grupo de Inovação da Iniciativa HEARTS nas Américas].Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2022Article
- [Drivers and scorecards to improve hypertension control in primary care practice: Recommendations from the HEARTS in the Americas Innovation GroupFactores impulsores y métodos de puntuación para mejorar el control de la hipertensión en la práctica clínica de la atención primaria: recomendaciones del grupo de innovación de HEARTS en las Américas].Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2022Article
- Household storage of pharmaceutical products in Saudi Arabia; A call for utilising smart packaging solutions.Saudi pharmaceutical journal : SPJ : the official publication of the Saudi Pharmaceutical Society · 2020Article
- Levothyroxine prescriptions trends may indicate a downtrend in prescribing.Therapeutic advances in endocrinology and metabolism · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLong-term conditions place a substantial burden on primary care services, with drug therapy being a core aspect of clinical management. However, the ideal frequency for issuing repeat prescriptions for these medications is unknown.
aimTo examine the impact of longer-duration (2-4 months) versus shorter-duration (28-day) prescriptions. DESIGN AND
settingSystematic review of primary care studies.
methodScientific and grey literature databases were searched from inception until 21 October 2015. Eligible studies were randomised controlled trials and observational studies that examined longer prescriptions (2-4 months) compared with shorter prescriptions (28 days) in patients with stable, chronic conditions being treated in primary care. Outcomes of interest were: health outcomes, adverse events, medication adherence, medication wastage, professional administration time, pharmacists' time and/or costs, patient experience, and patient out-of-pocket costs.
resultsFrom a search total of 24 876 records across all databases, 13 studies were eligible for review. Evidence of moderate quality from nine studies suggested that longer prescriptions are associated with increased medication adherence. Evidence from six studies suggested that longer prescriptions may increase medication waste, but results were not always statistically significant and were of very low quality. No eligible studies were identified that measured any of the other outcomes of interest, including health outcomes and adverse events.
conclusionThere is insufficient evidence relating to the overall impact of differing prescription lengths on clinical and health service outcomes, although studies do suggest medication adherence may improve with longer prescriptions. UK recommendations to provide shorter prescriptions are not substantiated by the current evidence base.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.