Engelsk titel: The impact of prescribing doctors age on the amount of prescribed benzodiazepines
Läs online
Författare:
Bramness, Jörgen G
;
Björner, Trine
;
Sexton, Joe A
Email: jorgen.bramness@medisin.uio.no
Språk: Nor
Antal referenser: 22
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 15043632
Sammanfattning
Background
Many patients become long-term
users of benzodiazepines. They
often continue
with their initial dose
for a long time. This study attempted
to determine factors related to the
size of this starting dose. Particular
attention was given to whether older
physicians prescribed higher doses
than younger physicians.
Material and methods
Data were obtained from the
Norwegian
Prescription Database
for the years 200-07. All new
users of benzodiazepine anxiolytics
or hypnotics
who received at
least two prescriptions in 2007 were
identified.
The outcome measure was
the amount
of benzodiazepines in
the first redemption
divided by the
number of days to the next. This was
measured
in a total of 12,421 patients.
For these patients we recorded
gender, age, place of residence and
amount of benzodiazepine. We also
recorded the physician’s gender and
age.
Results
The average amount of benzodiazepines
prescribed for new patients
amounted to approximately one
defined
daily dose every 5 days.
Doctors 60 years of age and older
prescribed higher initial doses than
their younger colleagues did (0.16
vs. 0.12 defined daily doses (DDD)
per day, p < 0.0001). Male doctors
prescribed
higher initial doses than
female doctors did (0.16 vs. 0.13
DDD/day, p < 0.0001).
Interpretation
The study indicates that older doctors
prescribe larger starting doses of
benzodiazepines. If this is due to a
new generation of doctors, we can
expect a further decline in the amount
of benzodiazepines prescribed in the
next few years.