Objectives. To study adherence to methotrexate (MTX) and factors of importance thereof in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. Patients with a hospital diagnosis of RA (ICD10 codes M05.X or M06.X) after January 1, 1997, and aged ≥18 years at the date of first diagnosis/contact, with at least one prescription of MTX (L04AX03), were included. Results. A total of 18,703 (47.6%) patien...

OBJECTIVES Acute respiratory infections and fever among children are highly prevalent in primary care. It is challenging to distinguish between viral and bacterial infections. Norway has a relatively low prescription rate of antibiotics, but it is still regarded as too high as the antimicrobial resistance is increasing. The aim of the study was to identify predictors for prescribing antibiotics...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the frequency of oral antihypertensive medication preceding the increase in blood pressure in patients in a university hospital, the drug of choice, and the maintained use of antihypertensive medication. METHODS Data from January to June 1997 from the University Hospital Professor Edgard Santos Pharmacy concerning the prescriptions of all inpatients were used. Variables ...

In a quasi-experimental pre- and postdesign, we examined the effect of rollator use on functional rehabilitation outcome in geriatric patients.From a sample of 458 geriatric inpatients, we matched 30 subjects who were not using assistive devices in their everyday lives but received a wheeled walker at the time of hospital admission (first-time user group) according to their admission scores on ...

An intervention to affect prescribing behavior was implemented at a large psychiatric hospital. Articles providing support for appropriate dosing of quetiapine were distributed to physicians, and peer discussions about prescribing practices were held. From April 2005 through December 2006, low-dose quetiapine prescriptions (<or=200 mg per day) were flagged. For four months, physicians writing l...

OBJECTIVE To determine the extent of use in children in hospital of drugs that are not specifically licensed for use in children (unlicensed) and of drugs that are used outside the terms of their product licence that apply to indication, age, dose, or route of administration (off label). DESIGN Prospective study of drugs administered on paediatric medical and surgical wards for 13 weeks. SE...

Objectives: The aim of this research has been to evaluate: (a) the frequency of the use of non-standard terms in medical prescriptions; (b) the proportion of “new drugs of irrelevant therapeutic value” or medication of low therapeutic utility (LTU); and (c) the use of Generic Pharmaceutical Specialties (GPS). Materials and methods: Descriptive transversal observational study with analytical com...

OBJECTIVES To assess the legibility and completeness of handwritten prescriptions and compare with electronic prescription system for medication errors. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Handwritten prescriptions were received from clinical units of Medicine Outpatient Department (MOPD), Primary Care Clinic...

BACKGROUND Hospital discharge records are an essential source of information when comparing health outcomes among hospitals; however, they contain limited information on acute clinical conditions. Doubts remain as to whether the addition of clinical and drug consumption information would improve the prediction of health outcomes and reduce confounding in inter-hospital comparisons. The objectiv...

A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the use of prescription drugs among elderly patients (> or = 60 years old) admitted to medical wards in Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A total of 204 elderly (101 men and 103 women) were interviewed. Eighty two percent of the elderly were taking at least one prescription drug, with 39.2% taking > or = 5 drugs. Prescription drugs commonly used w...