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Factors Influencing Allopurinol Initiation in Primary Care.

Roddy; Mallen; Clarson; Belcher; Hider

Authors



Abstract

Despite guidance on appropriate initiation, urate-lowering therapy is prescribed for only a minority of patients with gout. Electronic health records for 8,142 patients with gout were used to investigate the effect of age, sex, comorbidities, number of consultations, and meeting internationally agreed eligibility criteria on time to allopurinol initiation. Time to first prescription was modeled using multilevel Cox proportional hazards regression. Allopurinol initiation was positively associated with meeting eligibility criteria at diagnosis of gout, but negatively associated with becoming eligible after diagnosis. Managing gout as a chronic disease, with regular reviews to discuss allopurinol treatment, may reduce barriers to treatment.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 28, 2017
Publication Date Nov 1, 2017
Journal Annals of Family Medicine
Print ISSN 1544-1709
Publisher Annals of Family Medicine
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 15
Issue 6
Pages 557 - 560
DOI https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.213
Keywords allopurinol; gout; primary care