We studied the usage of analgesics which including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAIDs) and acetaminophen for patients with common cold by the doctors in the outpatient department of societies including physicians, pediatrics and obstetrics in Taiwan.
The data were based on the research database originally from the National Health Insurance Bureau of Taiwan. The study period began from January 1st, 2003 and ended on December 31th, 2003. During this twelfth-month period, there were 90074 patients who were prescribed for common cold with either NSAIDs or acetaminophen by the above societies of doctors.
The rate of NSAIDs prescription was 47.0% on average of all. Pediatricians had prescribed the most NSAIDs(53.5%) among the societies, however, obstetricians had prescribed the least(26.8%).
We found that the prescription patterns of analgesics for the common cold patients were different among the societies. The prescription pattern by all doctors was probably due to the factors such as the sex and age of the patients, hospital grade or the market of hospital competition in Taiwan. In addition, the diagnostic codes for disorders also played a significant role for prediction of the prescription pattern.
These findings are supporting the fact that social conditions may be the influential factors for analgesics used in common cold by certain groups of doctors.
