Oral corticosteroid prescription for asthma by general practitioners : A three-year analysis in Germany

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved..

BACKGROUND: Regular treatment of patients with asthma with oral corticosteroids (OCS) remains common despite potential severe side effects and alternative treatment options. However, there is limited data on the prevalence of OCS prescriptions for patients with asthma in Germany.

METHODS: Records from 1039 General practitioners for the years 2015-2017 in the German IMS® Disease Analyzer database were retrospectively analysed for patients with at least two confirmed asthma diagnoses (ICD-10) per observed year, representing approximately 30,000 patients per year. Asthma treatment steps (1-5) were assigned according to the German national guideline, based on prescribed therapies.

RESULTS: In the years 2015-2017, 20.3-21.3% of patients were classified as being in treatment step 1, 4.7-5.2% in step 2, 38.8-40.1% in step 3, 31.7-32.1% in step 4 and 2.7-3.2% in step 5. Proportions of patients treated with OCS >30 days/year were 9.4% (2015), 9.6% (2016) and 8.9% (2017), reducing to 8.1%, 8.2% and 7.4%, respectively, when patients with other inflammatory diseases possibly requiring OCS treatment were excluded. Use of OCS >30 days/year was more prevalent in patients aged >65 years (14.1-15.0%) than those aged 18-65 years (6.8-7.8%). Median daily prednisolone dose was 10-15 mg/day. Approximately 30% of patients treated with OCS >30 days/year were not in step 5 (based on their prescribed inhaled therapies).

CONCLUSION: These data suggest that a substantial proportion of patients with asthma in non-specialised care in Germany receive OCS prescriptions regularly, despite the availability of less harmful alternative treatment options.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:176

Enthalten in:

Respiratory medicine - 176(2021) vom: 27. Jan., Seite 106242

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Lommatzsch, Marek [VerfasserIn]
Sauerbeck, Inessa Schwab [VerfasserIn]
Wilmer, Cristina [VerfasserIn]
Taube, Christian [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

9PHQ9Y1OLM
Adrenal Cortex Hormones
Asthma
Disease analyzer database Germany
Journal Article
Oral corticosteroids
Prednisolone
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 28.10.2021

Date Revised 28.10.2021

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.rmed.2020.106242

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM318203405