Researchers from Hokkaido University Discuss Findings in Glycopeptide Antibiotics (Association of the ward pharmacy service with active implementation of therapeutic drug monitoring for vancomycin and teicoplanin-an epidemiological surveillance …)

2020 SEP 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Research findings on glycopeptide antibiotics are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting out of Hokkaido University by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Ward pharmacists are required for the active implementation of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). This epidemiological study verified whether Japanese ward pharmacists contribute to improving the TDM implementation proportions of anti-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) agents using the large health insurance claims database.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Hokkaido University: “The patients who received intravenous anti-MRSA agents from April 2012 to March 2017 were enrolled. We defined ward pharmacy service as the ‘drug management and guidance fee’ and/or ‘inpatient pharmaceutical services premium’. In addition, implementation of TDM was identified by ‘the specific drug treatment management fee’. We compared the proportions of TDM implementation for vancomycin (VCM), teicoplanin (TEIC), and arbekacin (ABK) in the ward and non-ward pharmacy service groups. To avoid confounding, the propensity score method was employed. Moreover, the clinical variables affecting TDM implementation in each anti-MRSA agent were analyzed by using a multiple logistic regression model. The following number of patients were included in the study: VCM (n = 2138), TEIC (n = 596), and ABK (n = 142). After propensity score matching, the proportions of TDM implementation for VCM and TEIC were higher in the ward pharmacy service group than in the non-ward pharmacy service group (VCM: 69.2% vs 60.3%, TEIC: 51.4% vs 34.7%), while no significant difference was observed for ABK (21.2% vs 23.1%). As independent clinical variables affecting TDM implementation for VCM and TEIC, several clinical variables, including ward pharmacy services, were extracted. In contrast, no clinical variables were extracted for ABK.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “We found that the ward pharmacy service is associated with the active implementation of TDM for anti-MRSA agents, such as VCM and TEIC.”

For more information on this research see: Association of the ward pharmacy service with active implementation of therapeutic drug monitoring for vancomycin and teicoplanin-an epidemiological surveillance study using Japanese large health insurance claims database. Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences, 2020,6(1):1-9. (Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences - https://jphcs.biomedcentral.com/). The publisher for Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences is BMC.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40780-020-00174-8.

Our news journalists report that more information may be obtained by contacting Shungo Imai, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokkaido University. Additional authors for this research include Kenji Momo, Hitoshi Kashiwagi, Takayuki Miyai, Mitsuru Sugawara, Yoh Takekuma.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)