Prescription of antibiotics in particular age cohorts of the insured of the General Health Insurance Company

Overview

Concerning the support of effective pharmacotherapy, it is suitable that physicians who prescribe medicaments get analyses of prescriptions, whereas their prescription habits should be compared with the common habits of physicians of the same specialization taking into account recommended therapeutical procedures. This paper responds to the question whether it is necessary to take into account the age when analyzing prescription of antibiotics. The database of archives of prescribed and reimbursed medicaments of the General Health Insurance Company of the Czech Republic in 2004 was analyzed without distinguishing the specialization of physicians.The age of the insured and particular groups of antibiotics were distinguished. It was found that the structure of antibiotics prescription is changing with the age of patients, more in children than in adults. Therefore, it is suitable to take into account the age of patients in detailed analysis of antibiotics prescription, wheres it is recommended to divide patients into 4 or 5 age groups. The average costs on antibiotics per one insured and the average payment per one defined daily dose of antibiotics are the most stable summary indicators in adults. These summary indicators may serve in searching physicians with atypical prescription without taking into account age in all physicians whose patients are predominantly adult patients.

Key words:
effective pharmacotherapy – prescription analyses – microbial resistance to antibiotics – project of global strategy