title: Surveillance of Physicians Causing Potential Drug-Drug Interactions in Ambulatory Care: A Pilot Study in Switzerland.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We analysed potential drug-drug interactions (DDI) in ambulatory care in Switzerland based on claims data from three large health insurers in 2010 to identify physicians with peculiar prescription behaviour differing from peers of the same specialty.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analysed contraindicated or potentially contraindicated DDI from the national drug formulary and calculated for each physician the ratios of the number of patients with a potential DDI divided by the number of patients at risk and used a zero inflated binomial distribution to correct for the inflated number of observations with no DDI. We then calculated the probability that the number of caused potential DDI of physicians was unlikely (p-value < 0.05 and ≥ 0.01) and very unlikely (p-value <0.01) to be due to chance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 1'607'233 females and 1'525'307 males 1.3% and 1.2% were exposed to at least one potential DDI during 12 months. When analysing the 40 most common DDI, 598 and 416 of 18,297 physicians (3.3% and 2.3%) were causing potential DDI in a frequency unlikely (p<0.05 and p ≥ 0.01) and very unlikely (p<0.01) to be explained by chance. Patients cared by general practitioners and cardiologists had the lowest probability (0.20 and 0.26) for not being exposed to DDI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Contraindicated or potentially contraindicated DDI are frequent in ambulatory care in Switzerland, with a small proportion of physicians causing potential DDI in a frequency that is very unlikely to be explained by chance when compared to peers of the same specialty.
authors.affiliation: Basel Institute for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Department of Clinical Research, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Heiner C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Bucher
authors.affiliation: Basel Institute for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Department of Clinical Research, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Achermann
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical Pharmacy and Epidemiology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.|Hospital Pharmacy, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nadja
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stohler
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical Pharmacy and Epidemiology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.|Hospital Pharmacy, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christoph R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Meier
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004347:Drug Interactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008508:Medication Errors; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013557:Switzerland; D055815:Young Adult