Table 3.
Common co-medications and short-term non-HCV-related medications by age group
| Chronic HCV patients | Non-HCV patients | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drug class | ATC Code | 18–44 years | 45–64 years | 65–74 years | ≥75 years | Total | 18–44 years | 45–64 years | 65–74 years | ≥75 years | Total |
| Number of patients | 8070 | 34,449 | 39,598 | 46,850 | 128,967 | 32,280 | 137,796 | 158,392 | 187,400 | 515,868 | |
| Co-medicationsa | |||||||||||
| Proton pump inhibitors | A02B2 | 4.8 | 11.8 | 15.1 | 16.1 | 14.0 | 1.7 | 4.6 | 6.6 | 7.1 | 6.0 |
| Calcium antagonists, plain | C08A0 | 1.7 | 9.1 | 13.7 | 15.9 | 12.5 | 1.0 | 4.6 | 6.7 | 7.5 | 6.1 |
| Angiotensin-II antagonists, plain | C09C0 | 2.0 | 7.7 | 9.9 | 10.4 | 9.0 | 1.2 | 4.2 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 4.8 |
| Non-barbiturates, plain | N05B1 | 2.9 | 5.9 | 7.0 | 7.2 | 6.5 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 2.5 |
| Plain antacids | A02A1 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 5.7 | 8.7 | 5.9 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 3.1 | 4.3 | 3.0 |
| Statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) | C10A1 | 2.2 | 5.6 | 7.0 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 1.3 | 5.4 | 6.9 | 5.8 | 5.8 |
| All other antiulcerants | A02B9 | 2.1 | 4.5 | 5.8 | 6.8 | 5.6 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 2.5 |
| Loop diuretics plain | C03A2 | 1.0 | 3.8 | 5.1 | 7.8 | 5.5 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 2.9 | 1.9 |
| DPP-4 inhibitor antidiabetics, plain | A10N1 | 1.5 | 5.2 | 6.0 | 4.8 | 5.1 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| Non-HCV-related medications prescribed at least onceb | |||||||||||
| Anaesthetics local, topical | N01B3 | 19.1 | 32.4 | 41.1 | 43.2 | 38.2 | 11.2 | 20.4 | 26.0 | 26.1 | 23.6 |
| Non-narcotics and anti-pyretics | N02B0 | 24.9 | 26.5 | 31.2 | 38.6 | 32.2 | 20.8 | 16.5 | 18.2 | 22.2 | 19.4 |
| Proton pump inhibitors | A02B2 | 15.8 | 27.1 | 32.5 | 37.7 | 31.9 | 8.0 | 14.5 | 17.7 | 20.9 | 17.4 |
| Stimulant laxatives | A06A2 | 12.7 | 21.4 | 30.3 | 37.5 | 29.5 | 7.6 | 13.9 | 19.2 | 22.7 | 18.3 |
| Anaesthetics local, medical injectables | N01B1 | 18.9 | 23.3 | 30.1 | 34.4 | 29.1 | 12.5 | 16.0 | 19.7 | 20.7 | 18.7 |
| Plain antacids | A02A1 | 13.2 | 22.3 | 30.2 | 35.2 | 28.8 | 8.2 | 11.8 | 16.8 | 19.2 | 15.8 |
| Anti-rheumatics, non-steroidal plain | M01A1 | 28.0 | 27.0 | 28.0 | 29.8 | 28.4 | 24.0 | 19.9 | 18.5 | 18.6 | 19.3 |
| Plain antiflatulents and carminatives | A02A2 | 11.2 | 23.3 | 29.9 | 27.6 | 26.2 | 5.0 | 11.5 | 14.9 | 13.3 | 12.8 |
| Injectable cephalosporins | J01D2 | 13.5 | 18.1 | 24.5 | 32.1 | 24.8 | 10.3 | 11.9 | 14.9 | 18.0 | 14.9 |
| Calcium antagonists, plain | C08A0 | 4.6 | 16.3 | 25.0 | 33.7 | 24.6 | 2.7 | 9.2 | 13.7 | 18.5 | 13.5 |
| Topical anti-rheumatics and analgesics | M02A0 | 9.8 | 16.9 | 22.7 | 29.2 | 22.7 | 6.2 | 10.5 | 14.1 | 18.2 | 14.1 |
| Non-barbiturates, plain | N05B1 | 11.7 | 18.6 | 22.6 | 26.6 | 22.3 | 4.8 | 8.0 | 11.1 | 14.0 | 10.9 |
| All other antiulcerants | A02B9 | 17.5 | 19.0 | 21.6 | 24.8 | 21.8 | 14.3 | 14.0 | 14.5 | 15.4 | 14.7 |
Data are percentages of patients in each age categories unless otherwise specified. For readability, patients were categorised into four age groups: 18–44, 45–64, 65–74, and ≥ 75 year groups
aCo-medications meet the requirements of either 1) supplied for a total of ≥180 days during the study period, or 2) the ATC codes were identified in 6 or more consecutive months during the study period. Co-medications prescribed in ≥5% of chronic HCV patients are listed
bNon-HCV-related medications prescribed at least once during the study period were examined. Medications prescribed in ≥20% of chronic HCV patients are listed. Classes of EphMRA ATC codes starting with K (hospital solutions) or T (diagnostic agents) were excluded from the list because these classes do not exist in WHO ATC classification and are difficult to interpret as “medications”: sodium chloride solutions (K01B1), low osmolar angio-urography (T01A0), 1/3 Electrolyte solutions (K01A4), and other electrolyte solutions (K01A9) are not shown in the table