Pharmacy shopping
September 10, 2012
VISITING multiple doctors and
pharmacies to obtain medicines has
been linked to prescription drug
overdose deaths.
The finding was part of a study by
researchers at West Virginia
University, which examined data
from the West Virginia Controlled
Substance Monitoring Program and
the Forensic Drug Database from
July 2005 through December 2007,
and which included more than one
million people aged over 18 years.
According to the researchers, of
those that were categorised as
deceased, doctor shoppers
accounted for about 25%, whilst
nearly 17.5% of the deceased were
pharmacy shoppers.
Interestingly, around 20% of
doctor shoppers were also found to
be pharmacy shoppers, whilst
55.6% of pharmacy shoppers were
found to be doctor shoppers.
Discussing their findings, researchers
emphasised the importance of
collaboration and communication
between doctors and pharmacists,
with research head Dr Marie Abate
suggesting that GPs and
pharmacists contact each other, as
well as other involved physicians, if
a patient recently filled or is trying
to fill similar prescriptions.
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