PRESCRIBING OF NONSTEROIDAL ANTIINFLAMMATORY DRUGS IN GENERAL-PRACTICE - DETERMINANTS AND CONSEQUENCES

Aim: To use Prescribing Analysis and Costs data to investigate factors associated with differences in rates of nonsteroidal anti-inflammator y drug prescribing in Nottingham general practices, Results: Poisson r egression analysis revealed that the Age, Sex and Temporary Resident P rescribing Unit Index was the largest identifiable influence; larger p ractice size and a higher index of deprivation were also significantly associated with lower prescribing, whilst the number of partners was associated with higher levels of prescribing, However, even after corr ecting for the influence of age, sex and temporary residents, there wa s an 5.9-fold variation in rates of prescribing, A similar Poisson reg ression analysis to identify factors associated with admission to hosp ital with ulcer bleeding in the elderly over the preceding 57 months i dentified the rate of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID) presc ribing as the only significant influence. Conclusion: The data are com patible with 1 hospital admission per 2823 NSAID prescriptions (95% co nfidence intervals 2098-8110) and they emphasize the need for strategi es to reduce levels of NSAID prescribing.