Painkiller prescription often unsuitable for patients
Treatment with painkillers is unnecessarily risky in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, according to a report by Barmer Krankenkasse. Patients are often prescribed painkillers that are unsuitable for them, the health insurance company complains in its 2023 Drug Report. The report examined the pain therapy medication used by outpatients insured with Barmer aged 18 and over without a tumor diagnosis.
In MV, around one in three adults (34.8 percent) in this group of people were prescribed at least one pain medication on an outpatient basis in 2021. It is worrying that, for example, around 14,600 insured persons were prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen or diclofenac despite having heart failure. Even brief use of pain medication can significantly worsen the performance of the heart.
Inadequate painkiller therapy can lead to increased hospital stays as well as an increased risk of death, according to the report. "The combination of supposedly harmless painkillers in particular can have fatal consequences," said Henning Kutzbach, regional managing director of Barmer in MV. The therapy, which is usually prescribed by several doctors, is hardly manageable without digital support.
According to the report, women in the north-east were prescribed painkillers 10 to 25 percent more frequently than men, depending on their age group. It also showed that a relatively large number of people in MV are treated with painkillers on a long-term basis, with long-term therapy defined as continuous treatment with pain medication over a period of at least 91 days. In 2021, 5.1 percent of men received long-term treatment, which corresponds to 31,000 people. For women, the figure was 7.3 percent (45,000 people).
The pharmaceutical industry should review the suitability of painkiller prescriptions in light of the report, as Health insurance companies like Barmer Krankenkasse have found that doctors often prescribe unsuitable painkillers to patients, including NSAIDs for those with heart failure. Healthcare professionals could benefit from improved digital support to manage complicated painkiller therapies and avoid harmful combinations.
Source: www.dpa.com
