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  • Title: [Treatment of severe arterial hypertension: cost of drug prescriptions in accordance with ANAES guidelines].
    Author: Fender P, Guilhot J, Tilly B, Salanave B, Allemand H.
    Journal: Therapie; 2001; 56(2):111-8. PubMed ID: 11471361.
    Abstract:
    French national health insurance has carried out two nationwide surveys as part of its programme intended to improve the care given to patients with hypertension, focusing on affiliates diagnosed with severe hypertension entitled to exemption from co-payments (patients are reimbursed 100 per cent for all care related to the corresponding disorder). The objective was to measure the difference between observed care and the quality of care delineated in the guidelines (1997) elaborated by the National Agency for Healthcare Accreditation and Evaluation (ANAES). The before and after comparison was designed to determine whether actual care is in accordance with the guideline's standards. The initial survey took place from 31 May to 12 November 1999 over the entire French territory (metropolitan and overseas departments) and concerned a representative sample of patients whose ages ranged from 20 to 80 years at the time they qualified for exemption from co-payments for severe hypertension. The method used for comparison involved the calculation of a number of different evaluation parameters, the principal one being blood pressure control, using the systolic (PAS) and diastolic (PAD) pressures reported by attending physicians. Other evaluation parameters included the quality of the therapeutic strategy utilized. A total of 10,665 patients were enrolled in the survey by using information gathered from 8377 practicing physicians. Extrapolated to the entire population in 1999, the results can be applied to 50,383 patients. The average age was 63 years and the patients had been treated for hypertension for an average of 9 years. In addition to severe hypertension, 64 per cent of the patients had other significant high-risk factors for cardiovascular disease: 44 per cent had dyslipidemia, 28 per cent had diabetes mellitus, 15 per cent were smokers. In 41 per cent of cases, the patients' blood pressures were well controlled (systolic and diastolic pressures below 140/90 mmHg or, for patients older than 60 years with only isolated systolic hypertension, systolic pressure equal to or lower than 160 mmHg); in 12 per cent of cases the patients' blood pressures were equal to the limit values; in 47 per cent of cases blood pressure was poorly controlled. Diabetics had poorly controlled blood pressure in 85 per cent of cases (systolic or diastolic pressures greater than 130/85 mmHg) and, similarly, 94 per cent of the patients who were in renal failure were poorly controlled (systolic or diastolic pressures greater than 125/75 mmHg). Preferential prescription with a particular therapeutic class, because of an existing comorbidity, was found in 68 per cent of patients whereas potentially contraindicated therapeutic classes were prescribed in 27 per cent. The daily cost of anti-hypertensive drug therapy was estimated at 8.05 francs per day per patient. Extrapolated to the study population in 1999, this represents 148.1 million francs. Less than 1 per cent of this observed cost (1.1 million francs) was economized by prescribing less expensive, alternative drug specialties in spite of the fact that an estimated 9.6 million francs could have been saved if these equivalent, alternative drugs had been prescribed. The potential saving corresponds to 6.5 per cent of the total observed cost. The care given to severely hypertensive patients is sub-optimum when compared with the ANAES guidelines (1997). In public health terms, the most preoccupying feature is poor blood pressure control because it occurs in a patient population with a high cardiovascular risk. These findings fully justify the continuation and amplification of the actions undertaken in this nationwide public health programme concerning the medical care given to hypertensive patients.
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