Abstracts by keywords: cross-sectional study
The aim of the present study was to determine the age of new cancer patients in 2010 and 2022 and to evaluate the changes in the proportion of early-onset cancers in the total number of cancer cases in private practices. This retrospective cross-sectional study included adult patients (≥18 years) with an initial cancer diagnosis in 557 private practices in Germany in 2010 or 2022 from the Disease Analyzer database (IQVIA).
02.08.2023
Hypertension is responsible for more than seven million deaths worldwide each year, accounting for approximately 13% of all deaths [1]. In Germany, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 60% of people aged 65 and over [2]. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common chronic metabolic diseases, affecting around 7% of people in Germany [3]. DM is one of the main risk factors for hypertension [4]. Most hypertension and DM patients require drug therapy, often polypharmacotherapy, to achieve optimal blood pressure and blood glucose control [4,5]. Several classes of drugs are recommended for the treatment of hypertension [4] and DM [5]. However, adherence to these therapies is still a common problem [6, 7]. The current coronavirus pandemic is having a major impact on healthcare systems around the world. Maintaining adherence in patients with chronic diseases during a pandemic can become a major challenge for physicians and pharmacies [8]. There is a risk that good care for Covid-19 patients could negatively impact the care of around 19 million patients with hypertension [9] and over 7 million patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus [10]. To date, no studies have been published on prescriptions of antihypertensive and antidiabetic medications or patient adherence to these therapies during the pandemic. It is to be expected that people are less likely to be adherent to therapy during this time. The aim of this study was to examine the development of the number of patients who received cardiovascular or diabetic medications from pharmacies in the first quarter of 2020.