Do Male and Female General Practitioners Differently Prescribe Chronic Pain Drugs to Older Patients?. Issue 4 (17th December 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lazkani, Aida; Delespierre, Tiba; Benattar‐Zibi, Linda; Bertin, Philippe; Corruble, Emmanuelle; Derumeaux, Geneviève; Falissard, Bruno; Forette, Francoise; Hanon, Olivier; Piedvache, Celine; Becquemont, Laurent
• Is Part Of: Pain medicine. Volume 16:Issue 4(2015)
• Page Start: 696
• Page End: 705
• Publication Date: 2014-12-17
• Subjects: Pain -- Periodicals; Pain -- Treatment -- Periodicals; Analgesics -- Periodicals; Pain -- Periodicals; Pain Management -- Periodicals; Douleur -- Périodiques; Douleur -- Traitement -- Périodiques; Analgésiques -- Périodiques; Analgésique; Soulagement de la douleur; Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); 616.047205
• DOI: 10.1111/pme.12659
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1526-2375

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="pme12659-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Objective</title> <p>The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between general practitioner (GP) gender and prescribing practice of chronic pain drugs in older adults.</p> </sec> <sec id="pme12659-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Design</title> <p> <bold>Cross‐sectional observational study.</bold> </p> </sec> <sec id="pme12659-sec-0103" sec-type="section"> <title>Setting</title> <p>GPs in private practice throughout France.</p> </sec> <sec id="pme12659-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Subjects</title> <p>Two hundred and sixty GPs (80.8% male and 19.2% female) enrolled 1, 379 (28.4% male and 71.6% female) noninstitutionalized patients over 65 years of age, suffering from chronic pain.</p> </sec> <sec id="pme12659-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>A comparison of prescribing habits between male and female GPs was performed on baseline data with univariate analyses followed by multivariate analyses after taking several confounding factors into account.</p> </sec> <sec id="pme12659-sec-0005" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>No significant differences were found when comparing male and female GPs' prescriptions of World Health Organization step 1, step 2, and step 3 analgesics. Male GPs were more likely than female GPs to prescribe antineuropathic pain drugs (11.3% of patients with male GPs versus 4.8% of patients with female GPs, <italic>P</italic> = 0.004) and less likely to prescribe symptomatic slow‐acting drugs for osteoarthritis (SySADOA) (10.2% of male GPs' patients versus 18.8% of female GPs' patients, <italic>P</italic> = 0.0003). After adjusting for several confounding factors, male GPs were still more likely to prescribe antineuropathic pain drugs (OR 2.43, 95% CI 1.15–5.14, <italic>P</italic> = 0.02) and less likely to prescribe symptomatic slow‐acting drugs (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.42–0.97, <italic>P</italic> = 0.03).</p> </sec> <sec id="pme12659-sec-0006" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusion</title> <p>Male and female GPs prescribe analgesics in a similar manner. However, male GPs prescribe more antineuropathic pain drugs, but fewer SySADOA.</p> </sec> </abstract>