Strategies to meet the need for long-term data

Impacts of national volume-based drug procurement policy on the utilization and costs of antihypertensive drugs in a Chinese medicine hospital: an interrupted time series analysis of 5138 patients

Objectives: The study aimed to estimate the effects of National Volume-based Drug Procurement (NVBP) policy on drug utilization and medical expenditures of hypertension patients in public medical institutions in mainland China. Methods: This study used patient-level data based on electronic health records retrieved from the hospital information system of Nanjing Hospital of Chinese Medicine. Data on patients with hypertension who received care at this institution between 2016 and 2021 was used for analysis. Segmented linear regression models incorporating Interrupted Time Series (ITS) analysis were adopted to examine the effects of NVBP policy on drug utilization and health expenditures of eligible patients. Drug utilization volume and health expenditures were the primary outcomes used to assess the policy effects, and were measured using the prescription proportion of each drug class and the overall per-encounter treatment costs. Results: After the implementation of NVBP policy, the volume of non-winning drugs decreased from 54.42% to 36.25% for outpatient care and from 35.62% to 15.65% for inpatient care. The ITS analysis showed that the volume of bid-winning drugs in outpatient and inpatient settings increased by 9.55% (p < 0.001) and 6.31% (p < 0.001), respectively. The volume changes in non-volume based purchased (non-VBP) drugs differed between outpatients and inpatients. The proportion of non-VBP drugs immediately increased by 5.34% (p = 0.002) overall, and showed an upward trend in the outpatient setting specially (p < 0.001) during the post-intervention period. However, no significant differences were observed in the proportion of non-VBP drugs in inpatient setting (p > 0.05) in term of level change (p > 0.05) or trend change (p > 0.05). The average per-visit expenditures of outpatients across all drug groups exhibited an upward trend (p < 0.05) post policy intervention. In addition, a similar increase in the overall costs for chemical drugs were observed in inpatient settings (coefficient = 2,599.54, p = 0.036), with no statistically significant differences in the regression slope and level (p = 0.814). Conclusion: The usage proportion of bid-winning drugs increased significantly post policy intervention, indicating greater use of bid-winning drugs and the corresponding substitution of non-winning hypertensive drugs. Drug expenditures for outpatients and health expenditures per visit for inpatients also exhibited an upward trend, suggesting the importance of enhanced drug use management in Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital settings.

Guide de Pratique Clinique. Prise en charge de l’hypertension artérielle chez l’adulte en Tunisie

Ce document a été réalisé dans le cadre d'une collaboration entre l'Instance Nationale de l’Évaluation et de l'Accréditation en Santé (INEAS), la Société Tunisienne de Cardiologie et de Chirurgie Cardiovasculaire (STCCCV) et la Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Maladie (CNAM).

Risk Factors and Comorbidities in Young Indian Patients with Hypertension: REAL YOUNG (Hypertension) Study

Purpose

To analyze the risk factors and comorbidities among the young Indian adults with hypertension.

Patients and Methods

This was a retrospective, multicentric real-world study which included patients diagnosed with and receiving treatment for hypertension. Data were collected from the medical records of clinics/hospitals across 623 study sites in India. Patients of either sex and aged 18–45 years were included. Demographic details (age, sex, anthropometric measurement), medical and family history, sedentary lifestyle, smoking status and alcohol consumption data were extracted. Descriptive and comparative analysis (Mann–Whitney U and chi-squared test) was done.

Results

Out of 15,006 young patients diagnosed with hypertension (men=63.6%), 65.7% belonged to the age group of >35–45 years. The median body mass index was 27.0 kg/m². Patients diagnosed with only hypertension were 29.1% while other predominant comorbidities with hypertension were diabetes mellitus (42.4%) and dyslipidemia (7.8%). Hypertension with diabetes mellitus were prevalent in the age group of >35–45 years (43.8%). More than half of the patients with hypertension (n=7656) had a sedentary lifestyle. Overall, 35.6%, 47.3%, and 56.7% of the patients were alcoholic, smokers (present and former), and had a family history of hypertension, respectively.

Conclusion

The results showed that among the young population, hypertension was common in the age group of >35–45 years and diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia were common comorbidities. Family history, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, alcohol consumption, and body mass index may also contribute to hypertension.

Combination Antihypertensive Therapy Prescribing and Blood Pressure Control in a Real-World Setting

BACKGROUND

Specific combinations of two drug classes are recommended in a variety of clinical situations in the management of hypertension. These preferred combinations are based on complimentary blood pressure (BP) lowering mechanisms or benefit for a concomitant disease.

METHODS

Using electronic health records (EHRs) data from 27,579 ambulatory hypertensive patients, we investigated antihypertensive therapy prescribing patterns and associations of preferred two drug classes with BP control.

RESULTS

Overall, BP control, defined as BP <140/90 mm Hg, was 65% among treated patients. Preferred dual antihypertensive therapy was prescribed in 55% of patients with uncomplicated hypertension, 49% of patients with diabetes, and 47% of patients with a history of myocardial infarction (MI); these prescribing frequencies of preferred combinations were not explained by worse BP control on those combinations. In fact, we found suggestive evidence of association between prescribing of preferred two drug classes and improved BP control among post-MI (OR: 1.21, 95% CI: 0.99-1.48, P = 0.061) and uncomplicated hypertensive (OR: 1.11, 95% CI: 0.98-1.26, P = 0.089) patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Prescribing of guideline-recommended antihypertensive drug classes for concomitant diseases is suboptimal and prescribing of preferred/optimized drug class combinations was moderate. We did not find a clear association between the use of optimized drug class combinations and greater BP control. Overall, using EHR data, we identified potential opportunities for re-examining prescribing practices with implications for clinical decision support and healthcare improvement at the community and health system-wide levels.

2018 ESC/ESH Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension: The Task Force for the management of arterial hypertension of the European Society of Cardiology and the European Society of Hypertension: The Task Force for the management of arterial hypertension of the European Society of Cardiology and the European Society of Hypertension

: Document reviewers: Guy De Backer (ESC Review Co-ordinator) (Belgium), Anthony M. Heagerty (ESH Review Co-ordinator) (UK), Stefan Agewall (Norway), Murielle Bochud (Switzerland), Claudio Borghi (Italy), Pierre Boutouyrie (France), Jana Brguljan (Slovenia), Héctor Bueno (Spain), Enrico G. Caiani (Italy), Bo Carlberg (Sweden), Neil Chapman (UK), Renata Cifkova (Czech Republic), John G. F. Cleland (UK), Jean-Philippe Collet (France), Ioan Mircea Coman (Romania), Peter W. de Leeuw (The Netherlands), Victoria Delgado (The Netherlands), Paul Dendale (Belgium), Hans-Christoph Diener (Germany), Maria Dorobantu (Romania), Robert Fagard (Belgium), Csaba Farsang (Hungary), Marc Ferrini (France), Ian M. Graham (Ireland), Guido Grassi (Italy), Hermann Haller (Germany), F. D. Richard Hobbs (UK), Bojan Jelakovic (Croatia), Catriona Jennings (UK), Hugo A. Katus (Germany), Abraham A. Kroon (The Netherlands), Christophe Leclercq (France), Dragan Lovic (Serbia), Empar Lurbe (Spain), Athanasios J. Manolis (Greece), Theresa A. McDonagh (UK), Franz Messerli (Switzerland), Maria Lorenza Muiesan (Italy), Uwe Nixdorff (Germany), Michael Hecht Olsen (Denmark), Gianfranco Parati (Italy), Joep Perk (Sweden), Massimo Francesco Piepoli (Italy), Jorge Polonia (Portugal), Piotr Ponikowski (Poland), Dimitrios J. Richter (Greece), Stefano F. Rimoldi (Switzerland), Marco Roffi (Switzerland), Naveed Sattar (UK), Petar M. Seferovic (Serbia), Iain A. Simpson (UK), Miguel Sousa-Uva (Portugal), Alice V. Stanton (Ireland), Philippe van de Borne (Belgium), Panos Vardas (Greece), Massimo Volpe (Italy), Sven Wassmann (Germany), Stephan Windecker (Switzerland), Jose Luis Zamorano (Spain).The disclosure forms of all experts involved in the development of these Guidelines are available on the ESC website www.escardio.org/guidelines.