ArticleBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2018
The 'top 100' drugs and classes in England: an updated 'starter formulary' for trainee prescribers.
Article in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
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- Prescription patterns of inhaler medications from 2017 to 2023: A retrospective study using Ontario administrative healthcare data.PloS one · 2026Article
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- A resource to empirically establish drug exposure records directly from untargeted metabolomics data.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Interrogating the Perceptions of Undergraduate Pharmacology Teaching on an MBBS Programme at a UK Medical School.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2025Article
- α-Ketol Rearrangement for Accessing Tetracyclic Natural Products.Organic letters · 2025Article
- Evaluation of the Safety of Percutaneous Dilatational Tracheostomies in Patients with Antiplatelet Therapy-A Comparison of Two Single-Step Percutaneous Dilatational Techniques.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- MEDICATION EXPOSURE AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE RISK ACROSS NATIONAL BIOBANKS.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Prescription trends of gastric acid suppressants and association with potential adverse events in Korea: a real-world cross-sectional study.Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology · 2025Article
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- Association of high LDL concentrations with erectile dysfunction from a Mendelian randomization study.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Mendelian randomization for cardiovascular diseases: principles and applications.European heart journal · 2023Review
- Epidemiology of the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2023Review
- SLCO1B1*5 is protective against non-senile cataracts in cohort prescribed statins: analysis in a British-South Asian cohort.The pharmacogenomics journal · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimsPrescribing is a complex skill required of doctors and, increasingly, other healthcare professionals. Use of a personal formulary can help to develop this skill. In 2006-9, we developed a core list of the 100 most commonly prescribed drugs. Our aim in the present study was to update this 'starter formulary' to ensure its continued relevance for prescriber training.
methodsWe analysed large contemporary primary and secondary care datasets to identify the most frequently prescribed medicinal products. Items were classified into natural groups, broadly following their British National Formulary classification. The resulting drug groups were included in the core list if they comprised ≥0.1% prescriptions in both settings or ≥0.2-0.3% prescriptions in one setting. Drugs from emergency guidelines that did not qualify by prescribing frequency completed the list.
resultsOver 1 billion primary care items and approximately 1.8 million secondary care prescriptions were analysed. The updated list comprises 81 drug groups commonly prescribed in both settings; six from primary care; seven from secondary care; and six from emergency guidelines. Eighty-eight per cent of the formulary was unchanged. Notable changes include entry of newer anti-epileptics and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors and exit of phenytoin and thiazolidinediones.
conclusionsThe relative stability of the core drug list over 9 years and the current update ensure that learning based on this list remains relevant to practice. Trainee prescribers may be encouraged to use this 'starter formulary' to develop a sound basis of prescribing knowledge and skills that they can subsequently apply more widely.
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