Abstract
BackgroundStatins are among the most commonly prescribed drugs worldwide in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and their effectiveness is largely acknowledged. The consumption of statins increased four-fold during the 2000–2010 decade in Italy and national and regional control policies were developed. Restrictions to reimbursement were fixed at the national level, whereas co-payment was introduced in some, but not all, regions. The aim of the present study is to assess the impact of such policies on the consumption of statins in Italy between 2001–2007 among outpatients.MethodsThe statin use was measured in terms of defined daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day (DDD/1000 inh. day) from May 2001 to December 2007. The study was conducted in 17 out of 21 regions, nine of which had implemented a co-payment policy. Time trends in consumption before and after the introduction of co-payment policies and reimbursement criteria were examined using segmented regression analysis of interrupted time-series, adjusting for seasonal components.ResultsThe consumption of statins increased by 22.9 DDD/1000 inh. day in May 2001 to 54.7 DDD/1000 inh. day in December 2007. On average, there was a 1.7% increase in statin use each month before the national guideline changed while the increase was about 0.5% afterwards. The revision of the reimbursement criteria was associated with a significant decrease in level (coefficient = −2.80, 95% CI −3.70 to −1.90 p-value <0.001) and trend (coefficient = −0.33, 95% CI −0.37 to −0.29 p-value <0.001). The introduction of co-payment was associated with a significant change in trend of consumption so that the overall use of the drug increased by 0.04 (95% CI 0.02 to 0.07, p-value < 0.001) DDD/1000 inh. day per month in the post-intervention period, but there was no evidence of a change in level of consumption (p-value = 0.163).ConclusionsConsumption of statins in Italy increased almost three-fold during the study period. The restriction to reimbursement Interventions was associated with an immediate drop and a decrease in trend of statin use, while the regional copayment was associated with a small increase in trend of statin use.
Highlights
Statins are among the most commonly prescribed drugs worldwide in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and their effectiveness is largely acknowledged
Cohort studies and reviews largely acknowledged statins effectiveness: their beneficial effects were evident as lipid-lowering agents in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD), other atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diabetes, and even in the treatment of asymptomatic individuals [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]
The visual inspection of the series suggests that the use of statins increased during the study period for both groups of regions
Summary
Statins are among the most commonly prescribed drugs worldwide in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and their effectiveness is largely acknowledged. A wide range of measures to contain the cost of statins was developed in many Countries (e.g. Norway), including lists of preferred generic substitutions and/or medicines for which the patients are reimbursed (Austria and Finland), and co-payment policies (USA, Canada). The effect of these policies was assessed in recent studies with regards to drug expenditure, adherence therapy, or health outcomes [14,15,16,17,18,19]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
