title: Variations in prescribing practices for novel antipsychotic medications among Veterans Affairs hospitals.
abstract: This study examined prescribing practices for antipsychotic medications at 13 Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers and whether patients' sociodemographic characteristics were associated with receiving novel agents. Automated pharmacy data were used to identify 599 patients who had been diagnosed as having schizophrenia and who had received a prescription for an antipsychotic medication after their last discharge from a VA medical center in 1997. Novel antipsychotics were found to have been prescribed for almost half of the patients (47 percent). In logistic regression analysis, significant variations in prescription of novel agents were found among the facilities and among ethnic groups. The results of this study suggest that prescribing practices are influenced by both facility and patient characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Center for Mental Healthcare and Outcomes Research, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Little Rock 72114, USA. owenrichard@uams.edu
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Thrush
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Austen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D014481:United States; D014728:Veterans
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents