Why the study?
Does using thiazides as the first-choice antihypertensive drug reduce direct drug costs compared to current prescribing patterns in patients with uncomplicated hypertension?
Does using thiazides as the first-choice antihypertensive drug reduce direct drug costs compared to current prescribing patterns in patients with uncomplicated hypertension?
Using thiazides as the first-line treatment for uncomplicated hypertension could yield hundreds of millions of dollars in annual drug-cost savings across major developed countries.
Thiazide-first strategies may lower drug costs in uncomplicated hypertension; modeling leaves open real-world adoption and outcome effects.
BACKGROUND: All clinical practice guidelines recommend thiazides as a first-choice drug for the management of uncomplicated hypertension. Thiazides are also the lowest priced antihypertensive drugs. Despite this, the use of thiazides is much lower than that of other drug-classes. We wanted to estimate the potential for savings if thiazides were used as the first choice drug for the management of uncomplicated hypertension. METHODS: For six countries (Canada, France, Germany, Norway, the UK and the US) we estimated the number of people that are being treated for hypertension, and the proportion of them that are suitable candidates for thiazide-therapy. By comparing this estimate with thiazide prescribing, we calculated the number of people that could switch from more expensive medication to thiazides. This enabled us to estimate the potential drug-cost savings. The analysis was based on findings from epidemiological studies and drug trials, and data on sales and prescribing provided by IMS for the year 2000. RESULTS: For Canada, France, Germany, Norway, the UK and the US the estimated potential annual savings were US13.8 million dollars, US37.4 million dollars, US72.2 million dollars, US10.7 million dollars, US119.7 million dollars and US433.6 million dollars, respectively.
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Fretheim et al. (2003) studied this question.
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