Health Metrics Research Center, Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research, Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), Tehran, Iran
Copyright © 2024 The Korean Society for Preventive Medicine
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Conflict of Interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest associated with the material presented in this paper.
Funding
This project was funded by the Social Security Organization Research Institute.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization: Aeenparast A, Maftoon F. Data curation: Aeenparast A, Farzadi F. Formal analysis: Haeri Mehrizi AA. Funding acquisition: Aeenparast A. Methodology: Aeenparast A, Maftoon F. Project administration: Aeenparast A. Visualization: Aeenparast A. Writing – original draft: Aeenparast A. Writing – review & editing: Haeri Mehrizi AA, Maftoon F, Farzadi F.
Characteristics | n (%) |
---|---|
Patients’ sex | |
Male | 18 228 227 (40.2) |
Female | 27 083 872 (59.8) |
Not defined | 441 (0.0) |
Patients’ age | |
Infant | 42 721 (0.1) |
Child | 5 378 504 (11.9) |
Teenager | 6 160 956 (13.6) |
Young adult | 9 695 883 (21.4) |
Middle age | 19 181 398 (42.3) |
Older adult | 4 847 298 (10.7) |
Not defined | 5780 (0.0) |
Time of prescription | |
Spring | 10 507 547 (23.2) |
Summer | 9 933 986 (21.9) |
Autumn | 12 594 268 (27.8) |
Winter | 12 276 739 (27.1) |
Specialty of prescriber | |
General practitioner | 34 263 691 (75.6) |
Internal medicine group: specialist | 6 518 974 (14.4) |
Surgery group: specialist | 2 503 744 (5.5) |
Internal medicine group: subspecialist | 244 835 (0.5) |
Surgery group: subspecialist | 80 263 (0.2) |
Dentists | 534 851 (1.2) |
Other providers1 | 875 736 (1.9) |
Not defined | 290 446 (0.6) |
Type of healthcare facility | |
Hospital clinic | 17 669 022 (39.0) |
Specialty clinic | 10 176 309 (22.5) |
General clinic | 16 462 917 (36.3) |
Day clinic | 1 004 292 (2.2) |
Characteristics | n (%) |
---|---|
Patients’ sex | |
Male | 18 228 227 (40.2) |
Female | 27 083 872 (59.8) |
Not defined | 441 (0.0) |
Patients’ age | |
Infant | 42 721 (0.1) |
Child | 5 378 504 (11.9) |
Teenager | 6 160 956 (13.6) |
Young adult | 9 695 883 (21.4) |
Middle age | 19 181 398 (42.3) |
Older adult | 4 847 298 (10.7) |
Not defined | 5780 (0.0) |
Time of prescription | |
Spring | 10 507 547 (23.2) |
Summer | 9 933 986 (21.9) |
Autumn | 12 594 268 (27.8) |
Winter | 12 276 739 (27.1) |
Specialty of prescriber | |
General practitioner | 34 263 691 (75.6) |
Internal medicine group: specialist | 6 518 974 (14.4) |
Surgery group: specialist | 2 503 744 (5.5) |
Internal medicine group: subspecialist | 244 835 (0.5) |
Surgery group: subspecialist | 80 263 (0.2) |
Dentists | 534 851 (1.2) |
Other providers |
875 736 (1.9) |
Not defined | 290 446 (0.6) |
Type of healthcare facility | |
Hospital clinic | 17 669 022 (39.0) |
Specialty clinic | 10 176 309 (22.5) |
General clinic | 16 462 917 (36.3) |
Day clinic | 1 004 292 (2.2) |
Indicators | Observed value | Optimal value | Index name |
---|---|---|---|
Average no. of medicines per prescription | 3.33 | <2 | Non-polypharmacy index |
Rate of prescriptions with at least 1 injection (%) | 17.5 | <10 | Injection safety index |
Rate of prescriptions with at least 1 antibiotic (%) | 37.5 | <30 | Rational antibiotic index |
Factors | Risk of prescribing more than 2 medicines | p-value | Risk of prescribing antibiotics | p-value | Risk of prescribing injections | p-value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sex | ||||||
Female | 1.000 (reference) | 1.000 (reference) | 1.000 (reference) | |||
Male | 0.980 (0.978, 0.982) | <0.001 | 1.200 (1.198, 1.201) | <0.001 | 1.202 (1.200, 1.204) | <0.001 |
Age | ||||||
Older adult | 1.000 (reference) | 1.000 (reference) | 1.000 (reference) | |||
Infant | 0.142 (0.140, 0.145) | <0.001 | 0.896 (0.869, 0.924) | <0.001 | 0.031 (0.026, 0.035) | <0.001 |
Child | 0.630 (0.627, 0.633) | <0.001 | 6.713 (6.692, 6.733) | <0.001 | 0.392 (0.390, 0.393) | <0.001 |
Teenager | 0.601 (0.598, 0.603) | <0.001 | 6.069 (6.051, 6.087) | <0.001 | 0.792 (0.789, 0.795) | <0.001 |
Young adult | 0.528 (0.526, 0.530) | <0.001 | 3.900 (3.889, 3.911) | <0.001 | 1.599 (1.594, 1.603) | <0.001 |
Middle age | 0.717 (0.714, 0.720) | <0.001 | 2.154 (2.148, 2.159) | <0.001 | 1.267 (1.264, 1.271) | <0.001 |
Time of prescription | ||||||
Spring | 1.000 (reference) | 1.000 (reference) | 1.000 (reference) | |||
Summer | 0.835 (0.832, 0.837) | <0.001 | 0.761 (0.760, 0.763) | <0.001 | 0.980 (0.978, 0.983) | <0.001 |
Autumn | 1.187 (1.184, 1.191) | <0.001 | 1.239 (1.237, 1.241) | <0.001 | 0.972 (0.969, 0.974) | <0.001 |
Winter | 1.105 (1.102, 1.108) | <0.001 | 1.251 (1.249, 1.253) | <0.001 | 0.945 (0.943, 0.947) | <0.001 |
Specialty of provider | ||||||
General practitioner | 1.000 (reference) | 1.000 (reference) | 1.000 (reference) | |||
Internal medicine group: specialist | 0.664 (0.663, 0.666) | <0.001 | 0.620 (0.619, 0.621) | <0.001 | 0.462 (0.460, 0.463) | <0.001 |
Surgery group: specialist | 0.288 (0.287, 0.289) | <0.001 | 0.470 (0.469, 0.472) | <0.001 | 0.601 (0.599, 0.603) | <0.001 |
Internal medicine group: subspecialist | 0.412 (0.408, 0.416) | <0.001 | 0.335 (0.361, 0.369) | <0.001 | 0.218 (0.214, 0.222) | <0.001 |
Surgery group: subspecialist | 0.187 (0.184, 0.190) | <0.001 | 0.160 (0.155, 0.164) | <0.001 | 0.195 (0.190, 0.201) | <0.001 |
Dentists | 0.759 (0.753, 0.766) | <0.001 | 12.230 (12.126, 12.331) | <0.001 | 0.368 (0.365, 0.372) | <0.001 |
Other providers | 0.368 (0.366, 0.370) | <0.001 | 0.463 (0.460, 0.465) | <0.001 | 0.051 (0.050, 0.052) | <0.001 |
Type of healthcare facility | ||||||
Hospital clinic | 1.000 (reference) | 1.000 (reference) | 1.000 (reference) | |||
Specialty clinic | 0.947 (0.945, 0.950) | <0.001 | 0.891 (0.890, 0.893) | <0.001 | 0.641 (0.640, 0.643) | <0.001 |
General clinic | 0.964 (0.961, 0.966) | <0.001 | 1.039 (1.038, 1.041) | <0.001 | 0.674 (0.672, 0.675) | <0.001 |
Day clinic | 1.036 (1.029, 1.044) | <0.001 | 1.053 (1.048, 1.057) | <0.001 | 0.792 (0.788, 0.796) | <0.001 |
Other providers consisted of laboratory scientists, pathologists, obstetricians, nutritionists, optometrists, audiologists, and physiotherapists.
Values are presented as odds ratio (95% confidence interval).