ArticleFrontiers in pharmacology2020
Geographical Variation in Medication Prescriptions: A Multiregional Drug-Utilization Study.
Article in Frontiers in pharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Effectiveness of Interventions to Evaluate and Reduce Healthcare Costs of Potentially Inappropriate Prescriptions among the Older Adults: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Polypharmacy, Potential Drug-Drug Interactions and Medication Non-Adherence in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: A Longitudinal Study.Neurology and therapy · 2026Article
- Prescribing variation across Europe: Insights into prescribing practices and educational needs.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Article
- Polypharmacy and Its Spatial Clustering in Japan: An Ecological Study of the Standardized Polypharmacy Ratio.Cureus · 2025Article
- Article
- Investigating racial disparities in drug prescriptions for patients with endometriosis.npj women's health · 2025Article
- Demographic and Geographic Characteristics Associated with the Type of Prescription and Drug Expenditure: Real World Evidence for Greece During 2015-2021.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Review
- Trends and regional differences in antidiabetic medication use: a nationwide retrospective observational study.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2024Article
- Estimating variations in the use of antibiotics in primary care: Insights from the Tuscany region, Italy.The International journal of health planning and management · 2022Article
- Prescription Rates, Polypharmacy and Prescriber Variability in Swiss General Practice-A Cross-Sectional Database Study.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- The Person's Care Requires a Sex and Gender Approach.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundStudies have emphasized the importance of geographical factors and general practitioner (GP) characteristics in influencing drug prescriptions.
objectivesTo: (i) ascertain the prevalence rate (PR) of use of drugs in six therapeutic categories used for chronic conditions; (ii) assess how geographical characteristics and GP characteristics may influence drug prescribing.
methodsThis study is part of the EDU.RE.DRUG Project, a national collaborative project founded by Italian Medicine Agency (AIFA). Cross-sectional analyses were undertaken employing the pharmacy-claim databases of four local health units (LHUs) located in two Italian regions: Lombardy and Campania. Six drug categories were evaluated: proton-pump inhibitors; antibiotics; respiratory-system drugs; statins; agents acting on the renin-angiotensin system; psychoanaleptic drugs. The PR was estimated according to drug categories at the LHU level. A linear multivariate regression analysis was undertaken to evaluate the association between the PR and geographical area, age and sex of GPs, number of patients, and percentage of patients aged >65 per GP.
resultsLHUs in Campania showed a PR that was significantly higher than that in Lombardy. Antibiotics showed the highest PR in all the LHUs assessed, ranging from 32.5% in Lecco (Lombardy) to 59.7% in Naples-2 (Campania). Multivariate linear regression analysis confirmed the association of the PR with geographical area for all drug categories. Being located in Campania increased the possibility of receiving a drug prescription from the categories considered, with estimates more marked for antibiotics, proton-pump-inhibitors, and respiratory-system drugs.
conclusionsThis study provides information about the PR of medications used for treating common and costly conditions in Italy and highlighted a significant geographical variation. These insights could help to develop area-specific strategies to optimize prescribing behavior.
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