Prescription practices for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: findings from the national ambulatory medical care survey 1999-2010.

Recent trends in prescriptions for medicines used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the United States have received little attention. Our objective was to examine trends in prescribing practices for medications used to treat COPD. We examined data from surveys of national samples of office visits to non-federal employed office-based physicians in the United States by patients aged ≥40 years with COPD recorded by the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey from 1999 to 2010. From three diagnostic codes, office visits by patients with COPD were identified. Prescribed medications were identified from up to 8 recorded medications. The percentage of these visits during which a prescription for any medication used to treat COPD was issued increased from 27.0% in 1999 to 49.1% in 2010 (p trend < 0.001). Strong increases were noted for short-acting beta-2 agonists (17.6% in 1999 to 24.7% in 2010; p trend < 0.001), long-acting beta-2 agonists as single agents or combination products (6.2% in 1999 to 28.3% in 2010; p trend < 0.001), inhaled corticosteroids as single agents or combination products (10.9% in 1999 to 30.9% in 2010; p trend < 0.001), and tiotropium (3.8% in 2004 to 17.2% in 2010; p trend < 0.001). Since 1999, prescription patterns for medicines used to treat COPD have changed profoundly in the United States.