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Abstract
Background
PRE2DUP is a modeling method that generates drug use periods (ie, when drug use started and ended) from drug purchases recorded in dispensing-based register data. It is based on the evaluation of personal drug purchasing patterns and considers hospital stays, possible stockpiling of drugs, and package information.
Objective
The objective of this study was to investigate person-level agreement between self-reported drug use in the interview and drug use modeled from dispensing data with PRE2DUP method for various drug classes used by older persons.
Methods
Self-reported drug use was assessed from the GeMS Study including a random sample of persons aged ≥75 years from the city of Kuopio, Finland, in 2006. Drug purchases recorded in the Prescription register data of these persons were modeled to determine drug use periods with PRE2DUP modeling method. Agreement between self-reported drug use on the interview date and drug use calculated from register-based data was compared in order to find the frequently used drugs and drug classes, which was evaluated by Cohen’s kappa. Kappa values 0.61–0.80 were considered to represent good and 0.81–1.00 as very good agreement.
Results
Among 569 participants with mean age of 82 years, the agreement between interview and register data was very good for 75% and very good or good for 93% of the studied drugs or drug classes. Good or very good agreement was observed for drugs that are typically used on regular bases, whereas “as needed” drugs represented poorer results.
Conclusion
PRE2DUP modeling method validly describes regular drug use among older persons. For most of drug classes investigated, PRE2DUP-modeled register data described drug use as well as interview-based data which are more time-consuming to collect. Further studies should be conducted by comparing it with other methods and in different drug user populations.
Disclosure
HT and AT have participated in research projects funded by Janssen with grants paid to the institution where they were employed. JT has served as a consultant in Lundbeck, Organon, Janssen-Cilag, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, F. Hoffman-La Roche, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He has received fees for giving expert opinions to Bristol-Myers Squibb and Glaxo-SmithKline; lecture fees from Janssen-Cilag, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Lundbeck, GlaxoSmithKline, Astra-Zeneca, and Novartis; and grant from Stanley Foundation. He is a member of advisory board in AstraZeneca, Janssen-Cilag, and Otsuka. MK has received personal research grant from Oy H. Lundbeck Ab foundation outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.