Pharma

One in Three Patients Not Filling Prescriptions, Study Finds – AAFP News

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OK boys and girls, listen up.  When you see the terms non-adherence or non-compliance in that APS you’re reading does this mean the risk is better or worse?

One in Three Patients Not Filling Prescriptions, Study Finds — AAFP News — AAFP.

For the study, Canadian researchers evaluated the electronic health records of 15,961 patients in a primary care network that included 131 physicians to estimate the incidence of primary nonadherence (failure to fill a first-time prescription) and to ferret out which drug, patient and physician characteristics might be associated with nonadherence. Patients’ health records were linked to insurer data on drugs dispensed by community-based pharmacies in relation to specific office visits.

The researchers found that slightly more than 31 percent of all initial drug prescriptions were not filled within nine months. Nonadherence was highest for expensive drugs and preventive therapies for chronic conditions such as ischemic heart disease and depression. In addition, patients with higher copayments, recent hospitalization and more severe comorbid conditions were at increased risk for nonadherence.

Daily Aspirin – Yes or No?

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Aspirin: FDA Says ‘No’ Others Say ‘Yes’.

I found this article quite helpful in my own decision regarding whether or not to continue my daily aspirin 81 mg dose.

The bump I gave myself on the shin a few weeks ago that bled profusely and took hours to clot was also quite helpful in my decision regarding whether or not to continue my daily aspirin 81 mg dose. 

Update 06.06.14

Check out the following link.  If you’re an older male you might find this of interest.

http://www.webmd.com/erectile-dysfunction/news/20110303/regular-use-of-painkillers-linked-to-ed

Update 07.26.14

This link takes you to the 2012 Circulation article.

Aspirin.

Update 08.04.14

More links for your reading and research pleasure.

Aspirin May Not Protect Against Cardiovascular Disease – Prevention.com.

Benefits of aspirin more modest than previously believed — St George’s, University of London.

Researchers from Professor Kausik Ray’s group at St George’s, University of London investigated the drug’s effectiveness in primary prevention and the prevalence of side effects. They also assessed if aspirin had any impact on the risk of death from cancer among people considered at risk of cardiovascular disease.

They analysed data from nine clinical trials involving over 100,000 participants without a history of cardiovascular disease. Half of the participants took aspirin and half took a placebo. The average participant in the aspirin arm of these trials took aspirin for about six years.

The researchers found that although aspirin in conventional daily or alternate day doses reduced the risk of total cardiovascular disease events by 10 per cent, this was largely due to a reduction in non-fatal heart attacks. It did not include a reduction in other cardiovascular disease events including death from heart attack, or fatal or non-fatal stroke.

The study also showed that this benefit was almost entirely offset by a 30 per cent increase in risk of life-threatening or debilitating internal bleeding events. This means that while one cardiovascular disease event was averted for every 120 people treated with aspirin for about six years, one in 73 people suffered from potentially significant bleeding during the same period.

Effexor (Venlafaxine) Voluntary Recall

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ISSUE: Pfizer Inc. issued a voluntary recall of one lot of 30-count Effexor XR (venlafaxine HCl) 150 mg extended-release capsules, one lot of 90-count Effexor XR (venlafaxine HCl) 150 mg extended-release capsules, and one lot of 90-count Greenstone LLC-branded Venlafaxine HC1 150 mg extended-release capsules. This action is being taken because of a pharmacist report that one bottle of Pfizer’s Effexor XR contained one capsule of Tikosyn (dofetilide) 0.25mg in addition to the Effexor XR capsules.

The use of Tikosyn by an Effexor XR/Venlafaxine HCl patient, where the contraindications and drug-drug interactions with Tikosyn have not been considered by the prescribing physician, could cause serious adverse health consequences that could be fatal.

via Safety Alerts for Human Medical Products > Effexor XR 150 Mg Extended-Release Capsules (Pfizer) and Venlafaxine HCl 150 Mg Extended-Release Capsules (Greenstone): Recall – Possible Presence of Tikosyn Capsules.

Pharmacists are on alert but if you are taking one of these prescriptions check the pill before you take it.

Killing Pain: Script by Script

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Primary care doctors wrote about 53 million benzodiazepine prescriptions in 2013, roughly four times the number written by psychiatrists, a group that penned 13 million benzo scripts.

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants were close behind with 11 million prescriptions for the drugs, according to data obtained by MedPage Today and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

In 2013, non-doctors wrote 30 million opioid prescriptions, compared with 92 million written by primary care doctors that year, according to data provided by IMS Health, a drug market research firm.

In 2010, the most recent year for which data were available, 30% of the 16,651 people who died of an opioid overdose also had taken a benzodiazepine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

via Killing Pain: Script by Script.

Killing Pain: Benzo ‘Boost’ Can Be Deadly.

Killing Pain: Xanax Tops Charts.