Inappropriate use of oral terbinafine in family practice.
OBJECTIVE
To review whether oral terbinafine, used for fungal nail infections, is prescribed appropriately by general practitioners.


METHODS
Cross-sectional survey of forty volunteer practices. Prescribing systems were searched to identify patients who had been prescribed a course of oral terbinafine during 1998. The clinical records of five such patients in each practice were examined for additional information regarding appropriate diagnostic tests.


RESULTS
Five hundred sixty-nine patients (0.25% of the population aged 12 and over) were reported to have received a course of oral terbinafine. Sixty-four percent had been treated empirically without any recorded diagnostic test.


CONCLUSIONS
Treatment of onychomycosis with terbinafine is commonly undertaken without diagnostic confirmation. This empirical treatment does not comply with locally recommended good practice.
Wilcock
Michael
M
Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Health Authority, John Keay House, St Austell, Cornwall, PL25 4NQ, UK. Mike.Wilcock@ClosHA.Cornwall.nhs.uk
Hartley
John
J
Gould
David
D
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D017723:Drug Utilization Review; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D005533:Foot Dermatoses / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009281:Naphthalenes / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014009:Onychomycosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000077291:Terbinafine
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D009281:Naphthalenes; D000077291:Terbinafine