ArticleBMC research notes2018
Availability and sufficiency of phenobarbital, an essential medication, in Bhutan: a survey of global and neuropsychiatric relevance.
Article in BMC research notes, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Availability, affordability, and quality of essential anti-seizure medication in Cambodia.Epilepsia open · 2021Article
- Global Health and Epilepsy: Update and Future Directions.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveWe aimed to provide a reliable evidence-based conclusion around manufacturing, import, availability and sufficiency of one essential medication, phenobarbital (PB) through our example location (Bhutan). The relevant details about manufacturing, import, annual quantity, dose strength were obtained.
resultsThere was no local manufacturing of PB and all other anti-seizure medications. A total of 1068 vials of PB 200 mg/mL inj and 489,350 tablets of PB30 mg (i.e. 14.6 kilos) was estimated to annually become available. Of this, 5.3 k (36.3%) was present at the basic health units (BHUs). The PB was absent at 26 (14.7%) BHUs. There was no availability of PB syrup. Treating supposed target of 50.0% of the 20.0% of the prevalent case-load (N = 4523) require 18.1 kilo of PB annually. To conclude, having or not the local manufacturing may or may not be a limitation. There is a need to overcome challenges of inappropriate dose strength, absent pediatric formulation, indirect cost, and low selling price of PB. The possible therapeutic participation of PB in managing disease conditions (like epilepsy) remains limited despite favorable safety and efficacy profile. Strengthening the availability of essential medications is essential to reduce the treatment gap and public health burden of treatable disease conditions.
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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.