Prescription of antibiotics and anxiolytics/hypnotics to asthmatic patients in general practice: a cross-sectional study based on French and Italian prescribing data.
BMC Fam Pract
; 16: 14, 2015 Feb 06.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25655671
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Asthma is often poorly controlled and guidelines are often inadequately followed in medical practice. In particular, the prescription of non-asthma-specific drugs can affect the quality of care. The goal of this study was to measure the frequency of the prescription of antibiotics and anxiolytics/hypnotics to asthmatic patients and to look for associations between sex or age and the prescription of these drugs.METHODS:
A cross-sectional study was conducted using computerised medical records from French and Italian general practitioners' networks. Patients were selected according to criteria adapted from the HEDIS (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set) criteria. The outcome measure was the number of antibiotics or anxiolytics/hypnotics prescriptions per patient in 1 year. Parallel multivariate models were developed.RESULTS:
The final sample included 3,093 French patients (mean age 27.6 years, 49.7% women) and 3,872 Italian patients (mean age 29.1 years, 48.7% women). In the univariate analysis, the French patients were prescribed fewer antibiotics than the Italian patients (37.1% vs. 42.2%, p < 0.00001) but more anxiolytics/hypnotics (17.8% vs. 6.9%, p < 0.0001). In the multivariate models, the female patients were more likely to receive antibiotics (odds ratio 1.5 [1.3-1.7]) and anxiolytics/hypnotics (odds ratio 1.8 [1.5-2.1]).CONCLUSIONS:
The prescription of antibiotics and anxiolytics/hypnotics to asthmatic patients is frequent, especially in women. Asthma guidelines should address this issue by referring to other guidelines covering the prescription of non-asthma-specific drugs, and alternative non-pharmacological interventions should be considered.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Asma
/
Ansiolíticos
/
Padrões de Prática Médica
/
Hipnóticos e Sedativos
/
Antibacterianos
Tipo de estudo:
Guideline
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
País/Região como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
BMC Fam Pract
Ano de publicação:
2015
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
França