Persistence with urate-lowering therapy in Australia: A longitudinal analysis of allopurinol prescriptions.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis in men. Despite the availability of effective urate-lowering therapies (ULT), the management of gout is suboptimal due to poor persistence with ULT. This study examined national prescribing patterns of ULT to determine persistence with allopurinol in Australia.

Methods

A 10% sample of the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme dispensing claims database was used to identify individuals initiated on allopurinol between April 2014 and December 2019. The number of allopurinol scripts dispensed was used to estimate persistence with allopurinol. Persistence was defined as the number of months from initiation until discontinuation (last prescription with no further scripts acquired for a period thereafter). Kaplan-Meier

SUBMITTER: Coleshill MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9795926 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature