TABLE 1.

Contents, strengths, and limitations of medication data sources utilized.

Data source	Contents	Strengths	Limitations
Claims Records	Date of medication prescribing	Complete record of all PBS a subsidized medicines, within a set time frame, that have been collected by patients from all pharmacies in Australia	Prescribed dosage not included. Only includes supplied medications with no record of unfilled prescriptions
	Date of medication supply
	PBS a item code
	Medication name
	Medication strength
	Quantity supplied
	Drug formulation
Pharmacy dispensing data	Date of medication supply	Records all medicines collected, within a set time frame, by patients from a particular pharmacy including the prescribed dosage instructions	Site specific. Prescriptions collected from other pharmacies are not recorded. Only includes supplied medications with no record of unfilled prescriptions
	PBS a item code
	Medication name
	Medication strength
	Quantity supplied
	Drug formulation
	Prescribed dosage
	Prescriber details

^aNotes: The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is an Australian Government initiative that subsidizes prescription medicines for Australian residents (Australian Government Department of Health, 2021). Any medication dispensed through the PBS, is recorded in a central database upon submission for reimbursement and can be linked to a patient via their unique Medicare ID. PBS medicines are subject to a patient co-payment to a threshold amount based on patient concessional status. This dataset includes medicines both below and above this threshold (excluding items dispensed as “private” or those not on the PBS List).