Refill adherence for patients with asthma and COPD: comparison of a pharmacy record database with manually collected repeat prescriptions.

摘要

PURPOSE: To compare refill adherence data based on two different methods of data capturing, that is, manually collected repeat prescriptions and a pharmacy record database. METHODS: The study comprised a comparison of adherence data from manually collected repeat prescriptions of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) drugs with fixed dosages dispensed in 2002 and the corresponding data from a pharmacy record database. Data were collected in the county of Jamtland in Sweden. Refill adherence was calculated for the different collection methods. RESULTS: Data from 285 manually collected repeat prescriptions for asthma/COPD drugs for 2002 showed that 35% of the prescribings had been satisfactory refilled, while 42% showed an undersupply and 23% an oversupply. The pharmacy record database had 490 prescribings for asthma/COPD drugs registered in 2002, 28% of these had a satisfactory refill adherence, while 43% showed an undersupply, and 29% an oversupply. Based on the database it could be shown that 11% of the individuals had used more than one repeat prescription of the same medicine during 2002. Based on the pharmacy record database for 1999-2002, it was shown that 29% of the prescribings had been satisfactory refilled whereas undersupply increased (53%) and oversupply decreased (18%) as compared to the 1-year data. CONCLUSIONS: Refill adherence determined from manually collected repeat prescriptions and from a pharmacy record database did not differ for a 1-year period. Four-year data might give a better overview of patients' refill adherence than 1-year data.