The impact of obesity on drug prescribing in primary care.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Healthcare costs attributable to obesity have previously involved estimations based on costs of diseases commonly considered as having obesity as an underlying factor.

Aim

To quantify the impact of obesity on total primary care drug prescribing.

Design of study

Review of computer generated and handwritten prescriptions to determine total prescribing volume for all drug classes.

Setting

Twenty-three general practice surgeries in the UK.

Method

Stratified random selection of 1150 patients who were obese (body mass index [BMI]>30 kg/m(2)) and 1150 age and sex-matched controls of normal weight (BMI 18.5-<25 kg/m(2)). Retrospective review of medical records over an 18-month period.

Results

A higher percentage of patients who were obese, comp

SUBMITTER: Counterweight Project Team 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1562331 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature