Prescription patterns and costs of antidiabetic medications in a large group of patients.
Prim Care Diabetes
; 12(2): 184-191, 2018 04.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29196125
ABSTRACT
AIMS:
To determine the prescription patterns of antidiabetic medications and the variables associated with their use in a Colombian population.METHODS:
A cross-sectional study using a systematized database of approximately 3.5 million affiliates of the Colombian Health System. Patients of both genders and all ages treated uninterruptedly with antidiabetic medications for three months (June-August 2015) were included. A database was designed that included sociodemographic, pharmacological, comedication, and cost variables.RESULTS:
A total of 47,532 patients were identified; the mean age was 65.5 years, and 56.3% were women. Among the patients, 56.2% (n=26,691) received medication as monotherapy. The most prescribed medications were metformin, 81.3% (n=38,664), insulins, 33.3% (n=15,848), and sulfonylureas, 21.8% (n=10,370). Among the patients, 92.8% received comedications, including antihypertensives (79.7%), hypolipemiants (65.5%), antiplatelet drugs (56.3%), analgesics (33.9%), antiulcerants (33.1%), and thyroid hormone (17.3%). The cost per 1000 inhabitants/day was $1.21 USD for metformin, $3.89 USD for insulins, and $0.02 USD for glibenclamide.CONCLUSIONS:
Generally, rational prescription habits predominated, however in some cases an overuse of comedications (such as antiulcer drugs) and a large group of patients with high cost formulations were observed. Subsequent effectiveness and cost-benefit analyzes are required.Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Practice Patterns, Physicians'
/
Drug Costs
/
Diabetes Mellitus
/
Hypoglycemic Agents
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Health_economic_evaluation
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
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Adult
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Aged
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Aged80
/
Child
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Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
America do sul
/
Colombia
Language:
En
Journal:
Prim Care Diabetes
Journal subject:
ENDOCRINOLOGIA
Year:
2018
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Colombia