Common problems with antiretroviral therapy among three Swedish groups of HIV infected individuals.

Objective: The main objective of this study was to identify and compare the common problems and difficulties associated with combination antiretroviral therapy (CART) as experienced by three major groups of HIV infected individuals (homo- or bisexuals, former injecting drug users and origins of Sub-Saharan Africa) in Sweden.

Methods: Based on the results from in-depth interviews with 15 representatives from the three major groups, a questionnaire was designed for use in a problem detection study (PDS). The study was conducted with 195 HIV-positive patients residing in the major cities of Sweden.

Pharmacy care perspectives on problems with HIV antiretroviral therapy in Sweden.

Objective: This study has three main objectives (1) to identify the major problems or difficulties pharmacy staff in Sweden experience regarding pharmacy care of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy, (2) to identify the perceptions of pharmacy staff regarding what are patient-related concerns with antiretroviral therapy and (3) to compare the extent to which pharmacy staff awareness matches patient perceptions regarding what are the major problems or difficulties associated with antiretroviral therapy.

Methods: A problem detection study (PDS) containing two questionnaires was conducted: one to be completed by pharmacy staff and another to be completed by both pharmacy staff and patients. In the latter survey, staff were asked about what they thought that patients would have responded.

A study of adherence to drug recommendations by providing feedback of outpatient prescribing patterns to hospital specialists.

Purpose: To study the effect of feedback using prescribing profiles combined with interactive group discussions on hospital specialists' adherence to evidence-based guidelines for drug treatment of common diseases issued by a regional Drug and Therapeutics Committee.

Methods: Intervention study performed at 17 clinics at a university hospital in a Swedish metropolitan health region with comparative clinics at a second university hospital as a control. Prescribing profiles based on aggregate pharmacy dispensing data were presented for the physicians in interactive group discussions.

[Antiepileptic treatment nearly six times more expensive since 1990].

There is a six-fold increase in the costs for antiepileptic drug prescriptions in Sweden from 1990 to 2000. This is mainly caused by a gradual increase in the prescribing of new and more expensive drugs, since the total use of antiepileptic drugs, expressed as defined daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants, is almost unchanged during the same time period. A marked variation in the prescribing of new antiepileptic drugs between different counties in Sweden, suggests that the role of the new compounds is still unclear.