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Abstract
Background Prescribing is the most common intervention made by healthcare professionals. Our study aimed to compare prescribing between general practitioner (GP) practices with the highest and lowest levels of deprivation.
Methods The deprivation level of each GP practice was determined using data from the income domain of the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation and individual patient postcodes. We compared prescribing data between the highest and lowest deprivation quintiles for selected groups of medicines. The prescribing measures used were selected as the most appropriate to the specific medicine group being considered. Data were analysed across the period of April 2018–March 2023.
Results For the medicine groups of statins, hypnotics and anxiolytics, and antidepressants, there was a statistically significantly higher level of prescribing in the highest deprivation quintile. For anticoagulants, there was no significant difference in prescribing between the different quintiles. For hormone replacement therapy, there was a significantly higher level of prescribing in the quintile of lowest deprivation.
Conclusion Our study shows variation in the prescribing of different medicine groups between the highest and lowest deprivation quintiles in Wales. Further investigation into this variation is required.
- Health inequalities
- PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY
- DRUG PRESCRIPTIONS
- GENERAL PRACTICE
- PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
Data availability statement
Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. Prescribing data and WIMD data are publicly available. Postcode data were attained from NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership and are not publicly available.
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Data availability statement
Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. Prescribing data and WIMD data are publicly available. Postcode data were attained from NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership and are not publicly available.
Footnotes
X @AndrewEvansCPhO
Correction notice This article has been corrected since it first publicashed. The supplemental file links have been corrected.
Contributors RB is the guarantor for this study. RB, AH, SG, KH and AE conceptualised and planned the study. RB, AH, SG, KH and AE determined the medicine group selections. RB sought ethics approval position. RB and SG devised and conducted the data analyses. SG completed the data analyses. RB and AH conducted the literature review. RB, AH and SG wrote the original draft of the paper. AH, JC and AE reviewed the original draft. RB, AH and SG updated the draft and prepared final version. RB submitted the paper.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.