Physicians' attitudes toward beta-blockers for the treatment of hypertension in Italy, Poland, and Turkey.

Despite substantial progress in understanding the complex pathophysiology, hypertension remains a serious public health challenge affecting over 1.2 billion adults aged 30-79 years worldwide. Appropriate knowledge of the different pharmaceutical classes of antihypertensive agents and an understanding of the characteristics of individual molecules are essential to optimize clinical outcomes in patients with hypertension. We conducted a computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) quantitative survey in Italy, Poland, and Turkey to investigate physicians' prescriptions, knowledge, and perceptions of antihypertensive drugs with a focus on ß-blockers, to assess antihypertensive usage patterns and the reasons underlying prescription choices. The survey findings show that ß-blockers retain a pivotal role in the management of hypertension and are prescribed more often for patients with cardiovascular comorbidities than for patients with diabetic comorbidities. In all three countries, nebivolol is the only ß-blocker among the ones analyzed which is consistently prescribed to 20% or more of patients and is overall the most prescribed one for the population with comorbid diabetes. In terms of specific ß-blockers' features, this study revealed knowledge gaps that underline the need for educational activities focused on the differences among ß-blockers, which are important in choosing the most suitable agent for individualized antihypertensive therapy.

Differences in drug use between men and women: an Italian cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Drugs are the most important treatment option for most diseases, and the majority of medical consultations result in a prescription. Women and men receive different drug prescriptions and differ in therapeutic response to pharmacological therapy. This disparity is due to biological factors (sex differences) or/and behavior, lifestyle and life experience (gender differences). Sex differences in drug use have been demonstrated in several therapeutic areas; however, there is a lack of overviews on sex and gender differences of drug use in an entire population. METHODS: We conducted a descriptive cross - sectional drug use study, involving the entire Italian population in 2012, aimed at showing and analyzing differences between men and women as regards their exposure to drugs. The data source was IMS LifeLink Treatment DynamicsTMLRx Database and it included all prescribed drugs reimbursed by the Italian National Healthcare System in 2012 and covered 90% of the entire Italian population. The information about the prescriptions was stratified by men and women and age. Drug consumption was expressed as DDD/ 1000 ab die. Exposure to drug prescriptions was expressed as period prevalence (the proportion of the population dispensed ≥1 prescription in 2012 per 1000 inhabitants). Differences of prevalence between men and women were expressed as crude and age adjusted risk ratios with 95% CI. RESULTS: Our findings suggested that the largest differences in drug prescriptions regarded drugs affecting bone structure and mineralization (RR 15.9), calcium (RR 8.6) and thyroid therapy (RR 5.4), dispensed more to women than men. Otherwise ACE inhibitors were more commonly used in men. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study exploring difference in drug use between men and women and carried out on the entire Italian population. Our findings showed substantial differences between men and women in term of prevalence of drug prescriptions. Some differences in drug use may be explained by sex differences (variations in disease prevalence and severity, pathophysiology, or by other biological differences), other differences need further investigation to explain the apparent lack of a rational medical explanation for some findings. The findings may subsequently be used to plan future studies to address differences suggesting inequity in treatment approaches.