Studying co-medication patterns:the impact of definitions

Purpose To show the necessity of distinguishing several patterns of drug prescribing that may lead to co-medication. It is demonstrated how these different patterns can be investigated using large databases containing pharmacy data or reimbursement data. Methods Two examples illustrate how the particular pattern of co-medication studied will influence the reported proportion of patients having co-medication, the use of antidepressants among people using anticonvulsants, and the use of antihistamines among people receiving penicillines. Results Depending on definition and period considered, the... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Tobi, Hilde
Faber, Adrianne
van den Berg, Paul B.
Drane, J. Wanzer
de Jong-van den Berg, Lolkje T. W.
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2007
Reihe/Periodikum: Tobi , H , Faber , A , van den Berg , P B , Drane , J W & de Jong-van den Berg , L T W 2007 , ' Studying co-medication patterns : the impact of definitions ' , Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety , vol. 16 , no. 4 , pp. 405-411 . https://doi.org/10.1002/pds.1304
Schlagwörter: co-medication / drug combinations / drug therapy / combination / polypharmacy / research methodology / BIPOLAR DEPRESSION / CARE / PHARMACOTHERAPY / NETHERLANDS / THERAPY / DRUGS / RISK
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-29192407
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
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Link(s) : https://hdl.handle.net/11370/cb82eb83-2ebe-43ae-9873-b1fbd73c954b

Purpose To show the necessity of distinguishing several patterns of drug prescribing that may lead to co-medication. It is demonstrated how these different patterns can be investigated using large databases containing pharmacy data or reimbursement data. Methods Two examples illustrate how the particular pattern of co-medication studied will influence the reported proportion of patients having co-medication, the use of antidepressants among people using anticonvulsants, and the use of antihistamines among people receiving penicillines. Results Depending on definition and period considered, the percentage of anticonvulsant users co-medicated with antidepressants ranged from 5.8% (95%CI 5.0%, 6.8%) to 14.5% (95%CI 13.2%, 15.9%) in 2000. Comparing 2002 with 2000, the ratio of proportions ranged from 1.3 to 2.1. The percentage of people who received penicillines and were co-medicated with antihistamines ranged from 0.5% (95%CI 0.4%, 0.6%) to 9.7% (95%CI 9.3%, 10.2%) in 2000. Comparing 2002 with 2000, the ratio of proportions ranged from 1.2 to 1.6. Conclusion The co-medication patterns investigated yielded clinical as well as statistically significant different estimates. The estimates differed up to a factor 2.5 for the drugs usually prescribed for long periods, and a factor 12 for drugs prescribed for short periods. Hence, we propose to distinguish the patterns 'co-prescribing', 'concomitant medication,' and 'possibly concurrent medication.' The research question determines the co-medication pattern of interest, and the drug and disease under study determine the time window. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.