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Asthma prescription patterns for children: can GPs do better?
Johannes H J M Uijen1, Johannes C van der Wouden, François G Schellevis
1Department of General Practice, Erasmus MC-University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The European Journal of General Practice
|December 31, 2010
Summary
Asthma medication prescribing for children in general practice is infrequent. Continuous bronchodilator-only prescriptions for pediatric asthma patients indicate a need for improved treatment strategies.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric pulmonology
- General practice research
- Medication prescribing patterns
Background:
- Optimizing general practitioner (GP) prescribing of pediatric asthma medications is crucial.
- Understanding current prescription patterns in children with physician-diagnosed asthma is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore asthma medication prescription patterns in children (0-17 years) within general practice.
- To identify determinants influencing these prescription patterns.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the Second Dutch National Survey of General Practice (DNSGP-2).
- Included 2993 children (0-17 years) with at least one asthma prescription from 87 general practices.
- Analyzed prescription rates and continuous vs. intermittent medication use using multivariate logistic regression.
Main Results:
- 16% of children with diagnosed asthma received no medication annually.
- Continuous bronchodilator and/or corticosteroid therapy was prescribed to 22% of children on medication.
- Prescribing varied significantly between practices; no independent effect of child or GP characteristics on continuous vs. intermittent prescribing was found.
Conclusions:
- Annual asthma medication prescriptions per child in general practice are relatively low.
- Continuous prescription of bronchodilators alone for pediatric asthma suggests potential for improved guideline adherence.
- Child and GP characteristics are not suitable targets for educational interventions to optimize prescribing.
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