Prescription drug monitoring program utilization in Kentucky community pharmacies.

Objective: Identify characteristics of Kentucky community pharmacists and community pharmacists' practice environment associated with utilization of the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting Program (KASPER).

Methods: Surveys were mailed to all 1,018 Kentucky pharmacists with a KASPER account and an additional 1,000 licensed pharmacists without an account. Bivariate analyses examined the association between KASPER utilization and practice type (independent or chain) and practice location (rural or urban).

Sex differences in benzodiazepine use in the HIV-infected population.

In the HIV-infected population there is a high prevalence of psychiatric disorders, conditions that often coexist with drug and alcohol dependence. Symptoms associated with psychiatric disorders are frequently managed with benzodiazepines, a class of medication often abused. We examined whether HIV-infected patients were more likely to fill a benzodiazepine prescription than their uninfected counterparts using a privately insured, nationally representative sample receiving clinical care between January 2007 and December 2009.