Prescription patterns of analgesics in the last 3 months of life: a retrospective analysis of 10202 lung cancer patients.
Br J Cancer
; 104(11): 1704-10, 2011 May 24.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21540860
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
To describe the prescription patterns of analgesics during the last 3 months of life in lung cancer and to determine the associated factors.METHODS:
Data on lung cancer patients (N=10,202) who died during 2000-2008 were extracted from the General Practice Research Database (GPRD). This database records prescriptions of patients received from UK general practices (GP), but not those from non-GP routes. Prescription prevalences were estimated. The associated factors were investigated using log-binomial regression.RESULTS:
The overall prescription prevalences were 50.4% (95% confidence interval (CI) 49.4-51.4%) for level 1 (e.g., paracetamol), 34.1% (95% CI 33.2-35.0%) for level 2 (weak opioids), and 55.5 % (95% CI 54.5-56.4%) for level 3 analgesics (strong opioids). Prescription prevalence of analgesics of all levels showed an increasing trend over the period 2000-2008 (annual increases range 1.1-1.5%) but a decreasing trend with age (average decrease per group range -5.8 to -1.8%). Patients in the older age groups were less likely to be prescribed level 3 analgesics than those in the younger age groups (PR('90+' vs '<50')=0.55 (95% CI 0.45-0.67); PR('80-89' vs '<50')=0.73 (95% CI 0.66-0.79); PR('70-79' vs '<50')=0.84 (95% CI 0.77-0.90)).CONCLUSION:
Analgesics have been increasingly prescribed in lung cancer. However, analgesics, especially at level 3, were relatively under-prescribed to people older than 70 years, warranting further investigation.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Assistência Terminal
/
Analgésicos
/
Neoplasias Pulmonares
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limite:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Br J Cancer
Ano de publicação:
2011
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Reino Unido