Table 3.

Prescriptions of benzodiazepines (bzd), Z-hypnotics or opioid analgesics for elderly patients during direct and indirect GP-patient contacts by package size issued.

	Number of prescriptions	Direct contact prescriptions (%), [95% CI]	Indirect contact prescriptions (%), [95% CI]
All prescriptions	28,659 (100%)	10,919 (38.1) [37.5–38.7]	17,740(61.9) [61.3–62.5]
Package ≥ 50 tablets (%) [95%CI]	18,946 (66.1) [65.6–66.7]	7285 (38.5) [37.8–39.1]*	11,661 (61.5) [60.9–62.2]*
Strong opioids, total	3260	888 (27.2) [25.7–28.8]	2372 (72.8) [71.2–74.3]
Package ≥ 50 tablets (%) [95% CI]	1111 (34.1) [32.5–35.7]	253 (22.8) [20.3–25.4]*	858 (77.2) [74.6–79.7]*
Weak opioids, total	7191	2969 (41.3) [40.1–42.4]	4222 (58.7) [57.6–59.9]
Package ≥ 50 tablets (%) [95% CI]	5460 (75.9) [74.9–76.9]	2220 (40.7) [39.4–42.0]*	3240 (59.3) [58.0–60.6]*
Bzd-anxiolytics, total	6993	2911 (41.6) [40.5–42.8]	4082 (58.4) [57.2–59.5]
Package ≥ 50 tablets (%) [95% CI]	5201 (74.4) [73.3–75.4]	2070 (39.8) [38.5–41.1]*	3131 (60.2) [58.9–61.5]*
Bzd-hypnotics, total	1681	663 (39.4) [37.1–41.8]	1018 (60.6) [58.2–62.9]
Package ≥ 50 tablets (%) [95% CI]	1346 (80.1) [78.1–82.0]	582 (43.2) [40.6–45.9]*	764 (56.8) [54.1–59.4]*
Z-hypnotics, total	9534	3488 (36.6) [35.6–37.6]	6046 (63.4) [62.4–64.4]
Package ≥ 50 tablets (%) [95% CI]	5828 (61.1) [60.1–62.1]	2160 (37.1) [35.8–38.3]*	3668 (62.9) [61.7–64.2]*

^*Prescription share of large packages (≥ 50 tablets).