Compliance with prescription recommendations by physicians in practices.
OBJECTIVE
Few investigations are available on the primary supply of patients in Germany. But they play a key role due to their relevance in health politics and economics. An analysis has been carried out to determine the extent to which physicians in practices adhere to the recommendations in the package inserts and to determine the consequences of this behavior regarding the safety and efficacy of prescribed drugs.


METHODS
The analysis was carried out with the IMS HEALTH mediplus patient database, which is a database providing anonymous access to a representative panel of physicians and patients in Germany. More than 1,000 medical practices including more than 5 million patients and over 75 million prescriptions can be analyzed in a cross and/or longitudinal section. The evaluation time period per patient currently exceeds 10 years with monthly updates.


RESULTS
Kava-Kava drug prescriptions indicate that the recommended daily dose was significantly overstepped in 78% of the cases. The recommended daily dose complied in only 41% of the cases whereas in 3 9% of the cases, the drug was underdosed.


CONCLUSIONS
These results may give an explanation why Kava-Kava prescriptions are associated with a high incidence of adverse drug reactions. On the other hand, lack of efficacy in many patients was mainly due to the fact that the drug was underdosed.
Schröder-Bernhardi
D
D
IMS HEALTH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Dietlein
G
G
D004345:Drug Industry; D062787:Drug Overdose / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D010349:Patient Compliance; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D013997:Time Factors
D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations