PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 651 - 14 Apr 2012

Oral contraceptives underusedfor acne

A study presented at the American Academy ofDermatology meeting in March 2012 has found that oralcontraceptives are underused for the treatment offemales with acne, particularly when dermatologistswere the prescribing physician. The study also foundthat isotretinoin was more likely to be prescribed thanoral contraceptives, even at the first visit for acne.

Using 1993–2008 data from the National AmbulatoryMedical Care Survey, the researchers compared the useof oral contraceptives and isotretinoin for females aged12–55 years and analysed the data according tophysician speciality.

Overall, 4.7% of women received prescriptions forisotretinoin at the initial visit compared with 3.3% whowere prescribed oral contraceptives. When all visitswere considered, isotretinoin was prescribed 6.6% ofthe time versus 1.5% of the time for oral contraceptives.The analysis showed that obstetricians/gynaecologists(ob/gyn) prescribed oral contraceptives for acne moreoften than dermatologists (19.6% vs 1.2%); the samewas true for isotretinoin (15.2% vs 7.1%). Of note,documented concurrent contraceptive use forisotretinoin patients was low amongst dermatologists(2.7% compared with 43.5% for ob/gyn).

The researchers say that these findings suggest thatphysicians "prescribing isotretinoin should be morevigilant about proper documentation of contraceptiveuse among isotretinoin patients at every visit".Landis E, et al. Oral contraceptives may be underutilized in the treatment of acnein the United States. 70th Annual Meeting of the American Academy ofDermatology : abstr. N/A, 16 Mar 2012. Available from: URL: http://www.aad.org 803068957

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 14 Apr 2012 No. 6511173-5503/10/0651-0001/$14.95 © 2010 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved