Replacing Short-Acting Nifedipine With Alternative Medications at a Large Health Maintenance Organization

In response to recent evidence about the safety of calcium channel blockers, Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound (GHC), a large health maintenance organization, implemented a plan in April 1996 to reevaluate the medications of 1349 patients who were taking short-acting nifedipine. Following the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of hypertension 1998-04, Vol.11 (4), p.471-477
Main Authors: Kaplan, Robert C, Psaty, Bruce M, Kriesel, David, Heckbert, Susan R, Smith, Nicholas L, Gillett, Clayton, Golston, Alan G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Antihypertensive agents
Biological and medical sciences
Calcium channel blockers
Calcium Channel Blockers - adverse effects
Calcium Channel Blockers - therapeutic use
Cardiovascular system
Cohort Studies
Delayed-Action Preparations
drug safety
Drug Utilization - trends
Felodipine - administration & dosage
Felodipine - therapeutic use
Female
Follow-Up Studies
formulary
health maintenance organization
Health Maintenance Organizations
Humans
hypertension
Hypertension - drug therapy
Male
Medical sciences
nifedipine
Nifedipine - adverse effects
Nifedipine - therapeutic use
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Retreatment
Safety
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Summary:In response to recent evidence about the safety of calcium channel blockers, Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound (GHC), a large health maintenance organization, implemented a plan in April 1996 to reevaluate the medications of 1349 patients who were taking short-acting nifedipine. Following the intervention, 79.8% of patients taking short-acting nifedipine discontinued use, and 45.6% switched to once-daily felodipine. By presenting physicians and patients with recent evidence about the safety of short-acting nifedipine, a large health maintenance organization was able to motivate broad-scale changes to safer alternative drug therapies.
ISSN:0895-7061
1879-1905
1941-7225
DOI:10.1016/S0895-7061(97)00494-9