%0 Journal Article
%T Influence of an e-mail with a drug information attachment on sales of prescribed drugs: a randomized controlled study
%A Christina Edward
%A Anders Himmelmann
%A Susanna M Wallerstedt
%J BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6904-7-12
%X The Swedish pharmaceutical benefit board found rizatriptan (Maxaltˋ) 10 mg to be the most cost-effective triptan. All 119 heads of primary care units in western Sweden were randomized to receive information concerning this conclusion via (i) e-mail with attachment I, (ii) e-mail with attachment II or (iii) no information (control). Attachment I was a short one (heading plus three lines text), whereas attachment II was a long one (heading plus one page text and one page with tables). The change in percentage rizatriptan of total triptans sold before and after the intervention (May 每 July 2004 and May 每 July 2005, respectively) was compared between the groups.Totally 48,229 (2004) and 50,674 (2005) defined daily doses of triptans were prescribed and sold during May 每 July in primary care units in the western part of Sweden. The absolute change in percentage rizatriptan was greater in the intervention groups compared with the control group 2 (25th 每 75th percentile: -3 每 7) vs 0 (-7 - 5), P = 0.031). The absolute change in percentage rizatriptan did not differ between the two attachment groups (P = 0.93).An e-mail with a drug information attachment may influence sales of prescribed drugs. No difference between different designs of the attachment could be detected.Drugs are keystones in the treatment of patients. Rational treatment with drugs requires adequate knowledge on drugs' benefits, risks and cost-effectiveness. The increasing volume of information related to drugs and prescribing may make it difficult for an individual primary care doctor to keep up to date with best practice. Lack of time for reading and evaluating scientific papers in favour of direct patient work may be one explanation. To consider costs when prescribing may add an additional difficulty. However, in a survey, the majority of the doctors stated that costs of medicines are important and they were willing to make economic considerations in prescribing [1]. Therefore, it seems reasonable to provi
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6904/7/12