Prescribing patterns of medication for respiratory diseases: cluster analysis of the Portuguese electronic
A Sá-Sousa1,2, R Amaral1,3, R Almeida1,2
1Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), School of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Summary:
We aimed to describe, for the first time, the prescribing patterns among patients on persistent respiratory treatment, from the Portuguese electronic prescription and dispensing database. This was a one-year retrospective population-based analysis of prescriptions (n = 39810) for medication for respiratory disease and exacerbations. Cluster analysis was applied based on medication and prescribers' specialty. Prescribing patterns were grouped and labelled as: possible medication for asthma and allergic rhinitis (General Practitioners-GPs and allergists to younger patients); COPD (GPs and pulmonologists to older patients); asthma or Asthma-COPD Overlap (GPs and pulmonologists); exacerbation, infection and relievers. This analysis was an important first step to understand the Portuguese reality on the treatment of respiratory diseases.
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