Drug prescriptions in Danish out-of-hours primary care: a 1-yearpopulation-based study

Figures & data

Table 1. Distribution of contacts with and without prescription(s) per contact type.

	All contacts	Contacts with at least one prescription	Contacts without prescription
Contact type	N (% column)	N (% row)	N (% row)
Telephone consultations	382,748 (59.4)	83,785 (21.9)	298,963 (78.1)
Clinic consultations	180,032 (27.9)	59,167 (32.9)	120,865 (67.1)
Home visits	81,997 (12.7)	11,716 (14.3)	70,281 (85.7)
Total	644,777 (100.0)	154,668 (24.0)	490,109 (76.0)

Table 2. Number of contacts with at least one prescription per 100 OOH contacts (PC rate) according to age, gender and contact type.

	N	All contacts PC rate(95% CI)	Telephone consultations PC rate (95% CI)	Clinic consultations PC rate (95% CI)	Home visits PC rate(95% CI)
Male	65,817	22.6 (22.5–22.8)	19.3 (19.1–19.5)	32.6 (32.3–32.9)	14.5 (14.2–14.9)
Female	88,851	25.1 (25.0–25.3)	23.9 (23.7–24.1)	33.1 (32.8–33.4)	14.1 (13.7–14.4)
0–4 years	26,581	21.1 (20.9–21.3)	17.2 (17.0–17.5)	29.4 (28.9–29.8)	14.0 (13.0–15.0)
5–13 years	13,212	20.9 (20.6–21.2)	15.6 (15.2–16.0)	29.5 (28.9–30.1)	13.7 (12.4–15.1)
14–17 years	5728	21.6 (21.1–22.1)	18.5 (17.9–19.1)	27.9 (27.0–28.8)	12.2 (10.7–13.9)
18–40 years	53,996	27.6 (27.4–27.8)	25.9 (25.6–26.1)	34.8 (34.4–35.2)	12.3 (11.7–12.8)
41–60 years	31,846	27.7 (27.4–27.9)	26.7 (26.4–27.0)	37.5 (36.9–40.0)	12.9 (12.4–13.4)
61–75 years	13,304	21.9 (21.6–22.2)	20.1 (19.6–20.5)	35.3 (34.5–36.2)	13.3 (12.8–13.8)
>75 years	10,001	17.4 (17.1–17.7)	17.8 (17.4–18.3)	29.5 (27.9–31.1)	15.5 (15.1–16.0)
Total	154,668	24.0 (23.9–24.1)	21.9 (21.8–22.0)	32.9 (32.6–33.1)	14.3 (14.0–14.5)

PC rate: number of contacts with at least one prescription per 100 contacts.

p for rate between gender for all contacts and telephone consultations <0.01 and for clinic consultations and home visit <0.05.

Table 3. All prescriptions in the 1-year study period presented with 1st, 2nd and 3rd ATC code level per contact type.

ATC code level				Telephone consultations	Clinic consultations	Home visits	All
1st	2nd	3rd		N (% column)	N (% column)	N (%column)	N (% column)
J			Anti-infectives for systemic use	26,679 (29.7)	41,042 (63.1)	8676 (65.6)	76,397 (45.5)
	J01		Antibacterials	24,286	40,261	8,556	73,103
		J01C	Beta-lactam antibacterials, penicillins	18,218	35,330	7113	60,661
		J01F	Macrolides and lincosamides	1634	3657	1018	6309
		J01E	Sulfonamides and trimethoprim	3577	632	132	4341
		J01M	Quinolone antibacterials	631	458	273	1362
		Rest	J01A, J01D, J01G, J01X	226	184	20	430
	J05	J05A	Antivirals (direct acting)	1005	607	87	1699
	J02	J02A	Antimycotics (systemic use)	1369	172	31	1572
	Rest		J06, J07	19	2	2	23
S			Sensory organs	16,058 (17.9)	5722 (8.8)	360 (2.7)	22,140 (13.2)
	S01		Ophtalmologicals	15,071	3982	286	19,339
		S01A	Anti-infectives	13,937	3470	249	17,656
		Rest	S01B, S01C, S01E, S01F, S01G, S01H, S01X	1134	512	37	1683
	S02		Otologicals	807	1165	42	2014
		S02C	Corticosteroides/anti-infectives comb	367	838	32	1237
		S02A	Anti-infectives	440	327	10	777
	Rest		S03	180	575	32	787
N			Nervous system	11,247 (12.6)	2457 (3.8)	1120 (8.5)	14,824 (8.8)
	N02		Analgetics	6148	2058	829	9035
		N02A	Opioids	4428	1462	709	6599
		N02C	Antimigraine preparations	1174	66	21	1261
		Rest	N02B	546	530	99	1175
	N06		Psychoanaleptics	2460	75	33	2568
		N06A	Antidepressant	2214	49	29	2292
		Rest	N06B, N06D	246	26	4	276
	N05		Psycholeptics	1381	224	214	1819
		N05B	Antiepileptics	511	145	142	798
		Rest	N05A, N05C	870	79	72	1021
	N03	N03A	Antiepileptics	924	33	13	970
	Rest		N01, N04, N07	334	67	64	432
R			Respiratory system	8850 (9.9)	4947 (7.6)	624 (4.7)	14,421 (8.6)
	R03		Drugs for obstructive airway diseases	4339	2493	418	7250
		R03A	Adrenergics, inhalants	3005	1663	320	4988
		R03B	Other inhalants	1007	503	60	1570
		Rest	R03C, R03D (for systemic use)	327	327	38	692
	R06	R06A	Antihistamines for systemic use	2512	1199	74	3785
	R05		Cough and cold preparations	1162	816	113	2091
	Rest		R01, R02 (Nasal/throat preparations)	837	439	19	1295
M			Musculo-skeletal system	6323 (7.1)	4129 (6.3)	564 (4.3)	11,016 (6.6)
	M01	M01A	NSAIDs	6192	4044	555	10,791
	Rest		M02, M03, M04, M05	131	85	9	225
A			Alimentary tract and metabolism	5864 (6.5)	2230 (3.4)	852 (6.4)	8946 (5.3)
	A02		Acid-related disorders	1246	1070	316	2632
	A03		Functional gastrointestinal disorders^a	1409	492	289	2190
	A10		Drugs used in diabetes	1073	9	7	1089
	Rest		A01, A04, A06-09, A11, A12	2136	659	240	3035
D			Dermatologicals	3587 (4.0)	2823 (4.3)	158 (1.2)	6568 (3.9)
	D06		Antibiotics/chemotherapeutics^b	1561	1334	56	2951
	D07		Topical dermatological corticosteroids	1109	1010	65	2184
	Rest		D01, D02, D04, D05, D08, D10, D11	917	479	37	1433
P			Antiparasitic products	3872 (4.3)	353 (0.5)	29 (0.2)	4254 (2.5)
	P02	P02C	Antinematodal agents	3566	47	4	3617
	Rest		P01, P03	306	306	25	637
C			Cardiovascular system	3037 (3.4)	628 (1.0)	212 (1.6)	3877 (2.3)
	C05	C05A	Haemorrhoids and anal fissures	1162	331	38	1531
	Rest		C01, C02, C03, C05B-C, C07, C08, C09, C10	1875	297	174	2246
G			Genito-urinary system/sex hormones	2801 (3.1)	89 (0.1)	10 (0.1)	2900 (1.7)
	G03	G03A	Hormonal contraceptives systemic	1949	13	3	1965
	Rest		G01, G02, G03B-H, G04	852	76	7	935
H			Systemic hormonal preparations	674 (0.8)	580 (0.9)	585 (4.4)	1839 (1.1)
	H02	H02A	Corticosteroids (for systemic use)	403	574	583	1.560
	Rest		H01, H03, H04, H05	271	6	2	259
Rest			B, L, V^c	605 (0.7)	70 (0.1)	26 (0.2)	701 (0.4)
All				89,597 (100)	65,070 (100)	13,216 (100)	167,883 (100)

^a Propulsives (A03F) account for 93.4%.

^b Antibiotics for topical use (D06A) account for 87.4%.

^c Blood and blood-forming organs; L: antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents; V: various.

Table 4. The 10 most frequently prescribed drug types (ATC-code, 3rd level). Proportion (%) of all prescriptions and prescription rate (Pr. rate)^a for all contacts and per contact type.

All contacts	%	Pr. rate (95% CI)	Telephone consultations	%	Pr. rate (95% CI)
Penicillin (J01C)	36.1	9.4 (9.3–9.5)	Penicillin (J01C)	20.3	4.8 (4.7–4.8)
Ophtalmological anti-infectives (S01A)	10.5	2.7 (2.7–2.8)	Ophtalmological anti-infectives (S01A)	15.6	3.6 (3.6–3.7)
NSAIDs (M01A)	6.4	1.7 (1.6–1.7)	NSAIDs (M01A)	6.9	1.6 (1.6–1.7)
Opioids (N02A)	3.9	1.0 (1.0–1.0)	Opioids (N02A)	4.9	1.2 (1.1–1.2)
Macrolides and lincosamides (J01F)	3.8	1.0 (1.0–1.0)	Sulfonamides and trimethroprim (J01E)	4.0	0.9 (0.9–1.0)
Adrenergics, inhalants (R03A)	3.0	0.8 (0.8–0.8)	Antinematodal agents (P02C)	4.0	0.9 (0.9–1.0)
Sulfonamides and trimethroprim (J01E)	2.6	0.7 (0.7–0.7)	Adrenergics, inhalants (R03A)	3.4	0.8 (0.8–0.8)
Antihistamines (for systemic use) (R06A)	2.3	0.6 (0.6–0.6)	Antihistamines for systemic use (R06A)	2.8	0.7 (0.6–0.7)
Antinematodal agents (P02C)	2.2	0.6 (0.5–0.6)	Antideppresants (N06A)	2.5	0.6 (0.6–0.6)
Antibiotics for topical use (D06A)	1.5	0.4 (0.4–0.4)	Hormonal contraceptives for systemic use (G03A)	2.2	0.5 (0.5–0.5)
Clinic consultations			Home visits
Penicillin (J01C)	54.3	19.6 (19.4–19.8)	Penicillin (J01C)	53.8	8.7 (8.5–8.9)
NSAIDs (M01A)	6.2	2.2 (2.2–2.3)	Macrolides and lincosamides (J01F)	7.7	1.2 (1.2–1.3)
Macrolides and lincosamides (J01F)	5.6	2.0 (2.0–2.1)	Opioids (N02A)	5.4	0.9 (0.8–0.9)
Ophtalmological anti-infectives(S01A)	5.3	1.9 (1.9–2.0)	Corticosteriods for systemic use (H02A)	4.4	0.7 (0.7–0.8)
Adrenergic inhalants (R03A)	2.6	0.9 (0.9–1.0)	NSAIDs (M01A)	4.2	0.7 (0.6–0.7)
Opioids (N02A)	2.2	0.8 (0.8–0.9)	Adrenergics, inhalants (R03A)	2.4	0.4 (0.3–0.4)
Antihistamines for systemic use (R06A)	1.8	0.7 (0.6–0.7)	Drugs for peptic ulcers and GERD (A02B)	2.3	0.4 (0.3–0.4)
Antibiotics for topical use (D06A)	1.8	0.7 (0.6–0.7)	Propulsives (A03F)	2.1	0.3 (0.3–0.4)
Otologicals (S02A + S02C)	1.8	0.6 (0.6–0.7)	Quinolone antibacterials (J01M)	2.2	0.3 (0.3–0.3)
Drugs for peptic ulcers (A02B)	1.6	0.5 (0.5–0.6)	Ophtalmological anti-infectives (S01A)	1.9	0.3 (0.3–0.3)

^a Number of prescriptions of a specific drug type per 100 contacts.