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The best predictors of which US counties’ patients are most likely to be prescribed higher-priced drugs are income, healthcare costs, and access to exercise opportunities, according to a new study published online in Nature Communications.
The best predictors of which US counties’ patients are most likely to be prescribed higher-priced drugs are income, healthcare costs, and access to exercise opportunities, according to a new study published online in Nature Communications.
Other factors such as state-level laws, insurance networks, or cultural preferences likely explain the remaining variance in brand preference across US counties, according to researchers Rachel D. Melamed, PhD, and Andrey Rzhetsky, PhD, of the University of Chicago. They concluded that a “patchwork” of contrasting medication cultures is in place across the nation, showing “geographically separated sub-Americas” that demonstrate the influences of racial composition, state-level healthcare laws, and wealth.
Their findings are based on an analysis of Truven MarketScan medical claims data covering more than 150 million individuals (nearly half the country’s population), followed for up to 10 years (2003-2013). The authors focused on comparing prescription rates of the 598 most highly prescribed drugs in more than 2300 US counties. The data contain a total of approximately 36 million patient-years.
Among the study’s findings are the following:
The study was funded by the DARPA Big Mechanism program and by National Institutes of Health grants.
Reference
Melamed RD, Rzhetsky A. Patchwork of contrasting medication cultures across the USA. Nature Communications.2018;9:4022. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-06205-1.