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Time trends of period prevalence rates of patients with inhaled long-acting beta-2-agonists-containing prescriptions: a European comparative database study.

Rottenkolber, M., Voogd, E., Dijk, L. van, Primatesta, P., Becker, C., Schlienger, R., Groot, M.C.H. de, Alvarez, Y., Durand, J., Slattery, J., Afonso, A., Requena, G., Gil, M., Alvarez, A., Hesse, U., Gerlach, R., Hasford, J., Fischer, R., Klungel, O.H., Schmiedl, S. Time trends of period prevalence rates of patients with inhaled long-acting beta-2-agonists-containing prescriptions: a European comparative database study. PLoS One: 2015, 10(2)
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Background
Inhaled, long-acting beta-2-adrenoceptor agonists (LABA) have well-established roles in asthma and/or COPD treatment. Drug utilisation patterns for LABA have been described, but few studies have directly compared LABA use in different countries. We aimed to compare the prevalence of LABA-containing prescriptions in five European countries using a standardised methodology.

Methods
A common study protocol was applied to seven European healthcare record databases (Denmark, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands (2), and the UK (2)) to calculate crude and age- and sex-standardised annual period prevalence rates (PPRs) of LABA-containing prescriptions from 2002–2009. Annual PPRs were stratified by sex, age, and indication (asthma, COPD, asthma and COPD).

Results
From 2002–2009, age- and sex-standardised PPRs of patients with LABA-containing medications increased in all databases (58.2%–185.1%). Highest PPRs were found in men ≥ 80 years old and women 70–79 years old. Regarding the three indications, the highest age- and sex-standardised PPRs in all databases were found in patients with “asthma and COPD” but with large inter-country variation. In those with asthma or COPD, lower PPRs and smaller inter-country variations were found. For all three indications, PPRs for LABA-containing prescriptions increased with age.

Conclusions
Using a standardised protocol that allowed direct inter-country comparisons, we found highest rates of LABA-containing prescriptions in elderly patients and distinct differences in the increased utilisation of LABA-containing prescriptions within the study period throughout the five European countries. (aut. ref.)