RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Trends, geographic variation, and factors associated with prescribing of gluten-free foods in English primary care: a cross sectional study
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 211052
DO 10.1101/211052
A1 Alex J Walker
A1 Helen J Curtis
A1 Seb Bacon
A1 Richard Croker
A1 Ben Goldacre
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/12/22/211052.abstract
AB Background There is substantial disagreement about whether gluten-free foods should be prescribed on the NHS. We aim to describe time trends, variation and factors associated with prescribing gluten-free foods in England.Methods We described long-term national trends in gluten-free prescribing, and practice and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) level monthly variation in the rate of gluten-free prescribing (per 1000 patients) over time. We used a mixed effect poisson regression model to determine factors associated with gluten-free prescribing rate.Results There were 1.3 million gluten-free prescriptions between July 2016 and June 2017, down from 1.8 million in 2012/13, with a corresponding cost reduction from £25.4m to £18.7m. There was substantial variation in prescribing rates among practices (range 0 to 148 prescriptions per 1000 patients, interquartile range 7.3 to 31.8), driven in part by substantial variation at the CCG level, likely due to differences in prescribing policy. Practices in the most deprived quintile of deprivation score had a lower prescribing rate than those in the highest quintile (incidence rate ratio 0.89, 95% confidence interval 0.87-0.91). This is potentially a reflection of the lower rate of diagnosed coeliac disease in more deprived populations.Conclusion Gluten-free prescribing is in a state of flux, with substantial clinically unwarranted variation between practices and CCGs.Strengths and weaknesses of the studyWe were able to measure the prescribing of gluten-free foods across all prescribing in England, eliminating bias. We also removed seasonal variation by aggregating savings over 12 months.As well as gluten-free prescribing variation at practice and CCG level, we have described long-term prescribing trends at national level, back to 1998.Using the available data, we were unable to look at gluten-free prescribing at prescriber level, or investigate factors associated with prescribing to individual patientsGPGeneral PracticeIQRInterquartile rangeNHSNational Health ServiceNICENational Institute for Health and Care ExcellencePCAPrescription cost AnalysisQOFQuality Outcomes FrameworkGPGeneral PracticeIQRInterquartile rangeNHSNational Health ServiceNICENational Institute for Health and Care ExcellencePCAPrescription cost AnalysisQOFQuality Outcomes Framework