title: Prescription profile of pyridostigmine use in a population of patients with myasthenia gravis.
abstract: We determined the pyridostigmine prescription pattern in a population of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted by using a prescription database of 3.5 million individuals from which patients who had been diagnosed with MG and for whom pyridostigmine had been prescribed were selected. A total of 306 outpatients with MG were found, and 258 were receiving pyridostigmine (mean age 53.0 ± 18.0 years). The calculated prevalence of MG was 86.7 cases per million persons. Monotherapy was used by 53.1% of the patients, prednisolone was used by 21.7%, and 30.2% used other immunomodulators. Medications for other comorbidities were taken by 74.8% of the patients, and 43.4% had prescriptions that could potentially trigger worsening symptoms. Pyridostigmine is being prescribed at doses close to the defined daily doses predominantly as monotherapy. A high proportion of patients were also prescribed a medication that could aggravate their condition, including some that can trigger a myasthenic crisis. Muscle Nerve 56: 1041-1046, 2017.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación en Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Audifarma S.A., Pereira, Calle 105 No. 14-140, Pereira, Colombia, South America.
authors.forename: Jorge Enrique
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8455-0936
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Machado-Alba
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación en Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Audifarma S.A., Pereira, Calle 105 No. 14-140, Pereira, Colombia, South America.|Resident of clinical neurology, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia, South América.
authors.forename: Luis Felipe
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Calvo-Torres
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación en Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Audifarma S.A., Pereira, Calle 105 No. 14-140, Pereira, Colombia, South America.
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gaviria-Mendoza
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación en Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Audifarma S.A., Pereira, Calle 105 No. 14-140, Pereira, Colombia, South America.
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Augusto MejíA-Vélez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011729:Pyridostigmine Bromide / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D007155:Immunologic Factors; D011729:Pyridostigmine Bromide
keywords: Colombia; drug prescriptions; drug utilization; myasthenia gravis; pharmacoepidemiology; pyridostigmine bromide