Although NSAIDs are recommended as a first line analgesic treatment, opioids are very commonly prescribed to patients with low back pain (LBP) despite risks of harms. This study aimed to determine factors contributing to general practitioners’ (GPs’) prescribing choices to patients with chronic LBP in [...]
This paper provides expert-derived best practice recommendations for designing and evaluating peer comparison A&F for antibiotic prescribing in primary care. These 13 statements can be used by A&F designers to optimize the impact of their quality improvement interventions, and improve antibiotic prescribing in primary care.
Cancer physicians may have difficulty balancing the perceived need to interact with industry in modern cancer care while maintaining distance to minimise conflicts of interest. Further research is needed to assess management strategies in this area.
The OPPICO cohort is a population-based cohort based on non-identifiable electronic health records routinely collected from 464 general practices in Victoria, Australia, created with the aim of understanding opioid prescribing, policy impacts and clinical outcomes. The aim of this paper is to provide a profile [...]
Pharmacological interventions are the most used treatment for low back pain (LBP). Use of evidence from systematic reviews of the effects of pharmacological interventions for LBP published in the Cochrane Library, is limited by lack of a comprehensive overview.
Objective To evaluate the comparative effectiveness and safety of analgesic medicines for acute non-specific low back pain.
This overview of systematic reviews summarised evidence on the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of antidepressants for 26 pain conditions. No review presented high certainty evidence on the efficacy of antidepressants. Moderate certainty evidence supported the efficacy of SNRIs, mostly duloxetine at median doses of 60-120 [...]
Antimicrobial resistance makes the misuse of antibiotics in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) a significant concern. Family members influence antibiotic prescribing for RACF residents, but there is limited understanding of the beliefs and knowledge that drive their involvement.
Anticholinergic burden has been associated with adverse outcomes such as falls. To date, no gold standard measure has been identified to assess anticholinergic burden, and no conclusion has been drawn on which of the different measure algorithms best predicts falls in older patients from general [...]
Quality use of anti-hypertensive and cholesterol-lowering medications is crucial for successful cardiovascular disease management. This systematic review aimed to estimate levels of over and underuse of services for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases from 2000 to 2020