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Influence of material deprivation on prescribing patterns within a deprived population

  • Pharmacoepidemiology and Prescription
  • Published:
European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To study the effect of material deprivation on prescribing trends in primary care, using a locally derived deprivation score.

Methods

A retrospective analysis of prescribing trends linked to material deprivation by district electoral division (DED) in the Eastern Region of the General Medical Services in Ireland (population of 334,031) was performed. Standardised prescribing ratios were determined for a number of drug classes, including those that could be used to identify particular diseases for 181,647 patients who were assigned a locally derived material deprivation score.

Results

Prescribing rates for a number of medications including anti-asthma, nitrate and benzodiazepine medications increased, whilst the prescribing of other medications such as anti-parkinsonian and antidepressive agents decreased with increasing deprivation.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that, even within a population considered to be economically deprived, different levels of deprivation may significantly influence general practitioner prescribing patterns. Within the group of centrally active medications, the prescription of symptomatic medications increased with increasing material deprivation, whilst the prescription of disease-specific medications decreased with increasing material deprivation.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the GMS(Payments) Board, the Small Area Health Research Unit and the Health Information Unit of the Eastern Regional Health Authority for their help in conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Ward 12, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Foresterhill, AB25 2ZN, Aberdeen , Scotland, UK

    D. Williams

  2. Department of Community Health and General Practice, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, Tallaght Hospital, 18, Dublin, Ireland

    C. Teljeur & A. Kelly

  3. Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, St. James Hospital, 8, Dublin , Ireland

    K. Bennett & J. Feely

Authors
  1. D. Williams
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  2. C. Teljeur
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  3. K. Bennett
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  4. A. Kelly
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  5. J. Feely
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. Williams.

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Williams, D., Teljeur, C., Bennett, K. et al. Influence of material deprivation on prescribing patterns within a deprived population. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 59, 559–563 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-003-0650-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-003-0650-y

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