Prevalence, trends, and factors associated with antipsychotic polypharmacy among Medicaid-eligible schizophrenia patients, 1998-2000.

Objective: To determine the prevalence, trends, and factors associated with antipsychotic polypharmacy categorized according to type of antipsychotic and duration of use and to contrast usage patterns with published treatment guidelines.

Method: A retrospective cohort study was designed, and Medicaid recipients > or = 16 years of age with a schizophrenia diagnosis (ICD-9-CM = 295.xx) between 1998 and 2000 were identified from the California (20% random sample) and Georgia Medicaid claims databases.

Prevalence and patterns of concomitant use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and other antidepressants in a high-cost polypharmacy cohort.

Background: Concomitant antidepressant therapy for patients who do not respond to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may be appropriate under close medical supervision. However, little is known about the prevalence or patterns of concurrent antidepressant therapy in a typical large health maintenance organization.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of concomitant SSRI-antidepressant therapy and to assess the relationship between concomitant SSRI therapy, patient demographic characteristics, and the use of multiple prescribers and pharmacies.

Assessing NSAID prescription use as a predisposing factor for gastroesophageal reflux disease in a Medicaid population.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine the incidence of GERD associated with prescription NSAID consumption.

Methods: All Georgia Medicaid patients > 25 years of age and continuously eligible for 1996, 1997, and 1998 were included in the study. Patients were excluded if they received a GERD diagnoses during 1996 and 1997.

Antipsychotic prescription use and costs for persons with schizophrenia in the 1990s: current trends and five year time series forecasts.

Real advances in schizophrenia pharmacotherapy have been made over this decade with the development of more efficacious treatment options with fewer side-effects. These advances have high per-unit direct costs that may have a profound effect on drug budgets of systems caring for persons with schizophrenia. The objective of this study was to describe the changes in utilization and cost for antipsychotic prescriptions by atypical, clozapine, decanoate products, and traditional neuroleptics in a large naturalistic setting, i.

Isolating the cost of osteoporosis-related fracture for postmenopausal women. A population-based study.

Background: Osteoporosis is a condition that will pose an increasing burden on health systems as populations age.

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the net 'per case' direct medical cost of fracture of indigent women age 50 years or greater and describe the cost of fracture for Medicaid and Medicare payers by inpatient hospital, physician, long-term care, prescription and miscellaneous expenditures.

Methods: This study utilized a quasi-experimental retrospective interrupted time series design to isolate the economic impact of fracture.