An observational, retrospective, cohort study of dosing patterns for XXXX and @entity12698 in the treatment of arthritis.

@entity1 @entity13586 @entity12698 @entity571 @entity309
OBJECTIVE: This study assessed prescribing patterns for @entity13586 and @entity12698 in the treatment of @entity571 ( @entity571 ) and @entity309 ( @entity309 ), as well as differences in prescribing patterns across physician specialties. METHODS: This was an observational, retrospective, cohort study of a large, US pharmacy claims database. Eligible @entity1 were initiating therapy with @entity13586 or @entity12698 and had succeeds, equals 90 days' supply of medication, as well as > or =1 medical claim specific to @entity571 or @entity309 between June 1, 2000, and May 31, 2001. Analyses were stratified according to diagnosis, prescribing physician specialty, and @entity1 demographics. The main outcome measure was mean daily usage (ie, mean daily dose [milligrams]; mean number of pills per day; and mean daily consumption [denoted as DACON], calculated as daily dose divided by most frequently prescribed strength). This was primarily a descriptive study. Tests of statistical significance were not performed because the large sample size would have rendered small differences significant. RESULTS: A total of 58,574 @entity1 with @entity571 (81.8% [n=47,935]) or @entity309 (18.2% [n=10,639]) received 220,627 prescriptions for @entity13586 or @entity12698 (47.7% [n=27, 924] and 52.3% [n=30, 650] of @entity1 , respectively) during the study period. Overall, the most frequently prescribed strengths were @entity13586 25 mg and @entity12698 200 mg. In both @entity571 and @entity309 , the most frequently prescribed mean daily dose of @entity13586 was 25 mg. In @entity571 , the most frequently prescribed mean daily dose of @entity12698 was 200 mg; in @entity309 , it was 400 mg. Both pills per day and DACON were higher for @entity12698 than @entity13586 . The DACON for @entity13586 was unrelated to physician specialty. Rheumatologists prescribed @entity12698 at 20% to 40% higher mean daily doses than did primary care physicians, orthopedic specialists, or other specialists. Regardless of physician specialty, the DACON appeared higher for @entity1 with @entity309 than @entity571 , for @entity1 than @entity1 , and for younger (aged <65 years) than older @entity1 . CONCLUSIONS: In this analysis, relative to the most frequently prescribed strength, @entity12698 -treated @entity1 with @entity571 and @entity309 had higher DACONs than @entity13586 -treated @entity571 and @entity309 @entity1 across all subgroups. These observations may have economic implications in terms of direct effects on cost and the need for formularies to consider overall use patterns in addition to pill costs. However, these conclusions are limited by lack of clinical information (other than an @entity571 or @entity309 diagnosis), inability to ascertain actual use, and potential for selection bias.
