OBJECTIVES: The computer system for billing prescriptions (SIFAR in Spanish) enables indicators to be extracted for the study and follow-up of the use of medicines in the INSALUD primary care areas. Concretely, we studied the indicator referring to pensioners consumption of lipid-lowering drugs (PCLL), not validated, and whose value is expected to drop as quality increases. The objective was to calculate the correlation of the indicator of prescription of lipid-lowering drugs on the SIFAR with the proportion of lipid-lowerers prescribed correctly for pensioners (PCP). DESIGN: A descriptive study of correlation between two indicators of drug prescription. SETTING: Four health districts in Madrid. PARTICIPANTS: The prescriptions of 49 general practitioners, chosen at random on the basis of three strata defined by the value of the indicator, were studied. Each doctor filled out a protocol of data for each pensioner patient to whom he/she prescribed a lipid-lowerer during the study period. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The PCLL and PCP indicators were compared through the correlation of Spearman. 6,779 prescriptions for 1,125 patients were collected from the 49 participating doctors. The mean percentage of lipid-lowerers correctly prescribed was 31.9%, figure that rose to 77.5% when the LDL value was not specified. The correlation between the PCLL and the PCP was near zero. CONCLUSIONS: The PCLL indicator of the SIFAR does not discriminate quality in lipid-lowering drug prescription to people over 64.
OBJECTIVES: The computer system for billing prescriptions (SIFAR in Spanish) enables indicators to be extracted for the study and follow-up of the use of medicines in the INSALUD primary care areas. Concretely, we studied the indicator referring to pensioners consumption of lipid-lowering drugs (PCLL), not validated, and whose value is expected to drop as quality increases. The objective was to calculate the correlation of the indicator of prescription of lipid-lowering drugs on the SIFAR with the proportion of lipid-lowerers prescribed correctly for pensioners (PCP). DESIGN: A descriptive study of correlation between two indicators of drug prescription. SETTING: Four health districts in Madrid. PARTICIPANTS: The prescriptions of 49 general practitioners, chosen at random on the basis of three strata defined by the value of the indicator, were studied. Each doctor filled out a protocol of data for each pensioner patient to whom he/she prescribed a lipid-lowerer during the study period. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The PCLL and PCP indicators were compared through the correlation of Spearman. 6,779 prescriptions for 1,125 patients were collected from the 49 participating doctors. The mean percentage of lipid-lowerers correctly prescribed was 31.9%, figure that rose to 77.5% when the LDL value was not specified. The correlation between the PCLL and the PCP was near zero. CONCLUSIONS: The PCLL indicator of the SIFAR does not discriminate quality in lipid-lowering drug prescription to people over 64.
Authors: T Sanz Cuesta; E Escortell Mayor; M I Fernández San Martín; C López Bilbao; B Medina Bustillo; C Torres Bouza Journal: Aten Primaria Date: 2000-10-15 Impact factor: 1.137
Authors: H M Krumholz; T E Seeman; S S Merrill; C F Mendes de Leon; V Vaccarino; D I Silverman; R Tsukahara; A M Ostfeld; L F Berkman Journal: JAMA Date: 1994-11-02 Impact factor: 56.272