Shanzeh Chaudhry, Setayesh Yazdani, Cherry Chu, Shenthuraan Tharmarajah, Nav Persaud, Mina Tadrous
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: To understand the possible association between media coverage and changes in the dispensation of doxylamine-pyridoxine in Canada.
Design: Cross-sectional time-series analysis using data from the IQVIA CompuScript database.
Setting: Ten Canadian provinces.
Participants: Family physicians, general practitioners, and obstetrician-gynecologists.
Main outcome measures: Data on the estimated total volume of doxylamine-pyridoxine prescriptions dispensed by retail pharmacists in Ontario and across Canada between July 2016 and May 2022 were used for a time-series analysis. Birth data obtained from Statistics Canada were used to adjust for pregnancy rates. Finally, the possible impact of media coverage in January 2018 on doxylamine-pyridoxine use was assessed with interventional autoregressive integrated moving average modelling, and dispensation rates of doxylamine-pyridoxine were reported overall and by prescriber specialty.
Results: Doxylamine-pyridoxine dispensation decreased by 1.2% (P=.015) overall in Ontario but did not change significantly (P=.064) across the rest of Canada. Out of 619,720 total doxylamine-pyridoxine prescriptions dispensed, 391,722 (63.2%) prescriptions were written by family physicians or general practitioners in Ontario, and there was a decline of 2.4% (P=.010) in the dispensation of doxylamine-pyridoxine based on prescriptions written by this group that lasted for 6 months before returning to previous dispensation rates. There was no significant change in the dispensation of doxylamine-pyridoxine based on prescriptions written by obstetrician-gynecologists (decline of 0.5%, P=.235) in Ontario.
Conclusion: Despite nationwide media attention questioning the efficacy of doxylamine-pyridoxine in early 2018, trends in dispensation rates of doxylamine-pyridoxine were only modestly affected and only in Ontario. Within Ontario, a small but significant reduction in doxylamine-pyridoxine dispensations was noted based on prescriptions from family physicians or general practitioners but not based on those written by obstetrician-gynecologists. Factors associated with the ongoing use of doxylamine-pyridoxine despite evidence of lack of benefit require further research.
期刊介绍:
Mission: Canadian Family Physician (CFP), a peer-reviewed medical journal, is the official publication of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. Our mission is to ensure that practitioners, researchers, educators and policy makers are informed on current issues and in touch with the latest thinking in the discipline of family medicine; to serve family physicians in all types of practice in every part of Canada in both official languages; to advance the continuing development of family medicine as a discipline; and to contribute to the ongoing improvement of patient care.