Click on the Newsletter Reader's Forum link to access a forum from which you can express your comment or viewpoint on this article.
The author values your input, so please take the time to register your details, and participate in the only free debate on the future of Australian pharmacy.
Registration is free, and required once only, for permanent access.
You do not need to register if you only wish to view comments.

Computachem Editor's Note:
We are pleased to announce that we have formed an alliance with Health Communications Network (HCN), an Australian company that is heavily involved in e-health. With permission, we have extracted two items from their recent newsletter which should prove of interest to pharmacists.
Note that the second item, the top 20 prescriptions written by GP's is provided by the GPRN database noted above.

The medication in focus this week is Salbutamol sulfate.

Prescribing of asthma medications

Data used: GPRN database
Data range: Prescriptions written between 1 Jan 1999 - 30th September 2001 Number of prescriptions: 24,938

Patient profile

Number of patients: 16,395
Sex: 46 percent male; 54 percent female
Age 15 percent patients aged less than 10; 21 percent of patients aged 10-24.

Reasons for prescribing Salbutamol sulfate inhaler

The top ten indications for the prescription of salbutamol sulfate inhaler are shown in Figure 3.
The majority of prescriptions were for asthma (80 percent), around 4 percent were written for COAD (the term COPD was also recorded as a reason, in around one percent of prescriptions).

Top 20 Medications prescribed in General Practice this week

	This Month		Last Month		This Year
Generic medication	Rank	Percent	Rank	Percent	Rank	Percent
Amoxycillin	1	4.24	1	4.2	4	2.67
Temazepam	2	3.34	3	3.2	1	3.38
Paracetamol	3	3.18	4	3.1	3	3.08
Paracetamol/codeine phosphate	4	3.17	2	3.3	2	3.21
Amoxycillin/potassium clavulanate	5	2.08	7	1.7	12	1.39
Roxithromycin	6	2.06	5	1.9	13	1.37
Salbutamol sulfate	7	1.89	6	1.8	7	1.71
Cephalexin	8	1.71	10	1.6	8	1.69
Diazepam	9	1.65	9	1.6	6	1.78
Celecoxib	10	1.58	13	1.5	5	2.12
Cefaclor	11	1.49	11	1.5	17	1.13
Levonorgestrel/ ethinyloestradiol	12	1.44	8	1.6	10	1.56
Oxazepam	13	1.32	14	1.3	9	1.56
Atorvastatin	14	1.29	17	1.3	15	1.26
Simvastatin	15	1.28	16	1.3	14	1.33
Doxycycline	16	1.24	12	1.5	18	1.11
Ranitidine hydrochloride	17	1.14	15	1.3	11	1.52
Rofecoxib	18	1.13	18	1.3	39	0.62
Aspirin	19	1.10	20	1.0	19	1.10
Mometasone Furoate	20	1.09	19	1.2	21	1.06

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This month = four weeks ending 30 September 2001
Last month = four weeks ending 2 September 2001
This year = 1 October 2000 to 30 September 2001
Last data supplied: 30 September 2001
Data source: GPRN Health Communication Network

Editorial Review:
Geoffrey Sayer * Dr Frank Pyefinch
Contributing Authors:
Fiona Horn * Leigh Hendrie * Kevin McGeechan * Geoffrey Sayer
Editor:
Alice Bhasale
Health Communication Network, PO Box 67 St Leonards NSW 1590 ph 02 9906 6633
email: research@hcn.com.au.

Back to Article Index
Newsletter Reader's Forum

Previous Article

Next Article

The comments and views expressed in the above article are those of the author and no other. The author welcomes any comment and interaction, directly or via the Newsletter Reader's Forum links located at the top and bottom of each article.
The newsletter archives are now fully searchable via the search engine on the left hand side of this page. If you would like to find similar articles to the above material, please enter the appropriate keyword(s). To retain context with multiple keywords or phrases, please enclose in inverted commas.
* Please contact us if you would like further information or would like us to research additional material to publish as future articles.	* Don't forget to advise of any change in your e-mail address so that your subscription may be continued without interruption.	* Letters to the editor are encouraged, or if you have material you would like published, please forward to the editor.	* Any interested persons who would like to receive this free newsletter on their desktop each fortnight, please send a single word e-mail "Subscribe"	* If you have found value in this newsletter, please share it with a friend, or alternatively, encourage a colleague to subscribe
* All Communications to: neilj@computachem.com.au
* You are invited to visit the Computachem web site and check out an organised reference site for medical or other references. Why not try (and bookmark) the Computachem Interweb Directory for an easily accessed range of medical and pharmacy links, plus a host of pharmacy relevant links. The directory also contains a very fast search engine for Internet enquiries. You may also access the Home Page at: http://www.computachem.com.au

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Article Index
Article Archive 2000
Article Archive 2001
Home