Medication utilization behavior in patients receiving phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors for erectile dysfunction

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Real-world Evidence in Healthcare
• Urology and Men's Health

Background:

• Inconsistent findings exist regarding patient preferences for phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors.
• Limited real-world data is available on the utilization patterns of PDE5 inhibitors for erectile dysfunction (ED).

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate and compare real-world treatment patterns for patients initiating ED therapy with sildenafil, vardenafil, or tadalafil.
• To analyze medication refill rates, switching behaviors, and dose titration among different PDE5 inhibitors.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of real-world data from NDCHealth's Intelligent Health Repository.
• Identification of patients with initial prescription claims for sildenafil, vardenafil, or tadalafil.
• Logistic regression used to analyze factors influencing medication refill, controlling for patient demographics and comorbidities.

Main Results:

• Sildenafil users had significantly higher refill rates (52%) compared to vardenafil (30%) and tadalafil (29%).
• Lower medication switching rates were observed for sildenafil (6.4%) versus tadalafil (9.0%) and vardenafil (10.4%).
• No significant differences in dose titration frequency were found across the three PDE5 inhibitors.

Conclusions:

• Patients initially prescribed sildenafil demonstrated significantly higher medication refill rates and lower switching rates.
• These real-world findings may suggest greater treatment satisfaction with sildenafil compared to vardenafil and tadalafil.
• Further prospective studies are recommended to confirm treatment satisfaction and long-term outcomes.