RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Influence of age, sex and hospitalisation on the administration of tuberculosis medication: an evaluation of routine data from a German health insurer JF ERJ Open Research JO erjor FD European Respiratory Society SP 00369-2019 DO 10.1183/23120541.00369-2019 VO 6 IS 3 A1 Jan F. Kersten A1 Stefanie Wobbe-Ribinski A1 Roland Diel A1 Albert Nienhaus A1 Anja Schablon YR 2020 UL http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/6/3/00369-2019.abstract AB Background So far, there is no reliable information on the drugs actually taken by tuberculosis patients. With billing data from a large German health insurance company, valid data from practice will be used for analysis. The objective here is to use the claims data of a health insurer to gain an insight into the prescriptions issued to patients with tuberculosis in Germany.Methods The study design encompasses a longitudinal, analytical observational study of selected insurance holders. Descriptive analyses of the outpatient drug supply of pulmonary tuberculosis patients are determined for 6 payroll years. We have studied whether different doses of tuberculosis medication are associated with age, sex, inpatient status and comorbidity. Quantile regression is used as a method to identify subgroups or characteristic dosages.Results The number of defined daily doses prescribed per patient varies among insurance holders and encompasses widely differing timeframes. Higher doses are observed with increasing age, as well as in patients with tuberculosis-related hospitalisations. The sex of the patient has no identifiable effect on the prescribed doses for any of the first-line tuberculosis drugs. Comorbidity partially has a significant impact on the duration and intensity of tuberculosis drug prescriptions.For tuberculosis patients, the doses of the prescribed four first-line drugs are higher for patients having received a main diagnosis of tuberculosis upon hospital discharge than for outpatients without prior hospitalisation https://bit.ly/3dFw3Qq