Two-thirds of Australian veterans taking PPIs for acid reflux do not discontinue treatment within the recommended guidelines, but this is perhaps due to inadequate discharge information provided to GPs, says a new study.
The retrospective cohort study of over 40,000 veterans found just 32% discontinued high-strength PPI treatment within eight weeks, and that treatment initiated in hospitals had the longest duration, followed by GPs and specialists.
The researchers say 62% of PPI prescriptions for acid reflux were written by GPs, who may be reluctant to stop hospital-initiated therapy early because of insufficient discharge information provided to them.
They say studies in the UK and New Zealand found GPs received suboptimal information from the original prescriber, such as recommendations for treatment...
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