Article

4 Iconography
Access to the text (HTML) Access to the text (HTML)
PDF Access to the PDF text
Print Print
Recommend this article Recommend this article
Save as favorites Save as favorites
Advertising


Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription.
  • If you are a subscriber, please sign in 'My Account' at the top right of the screen.

  • If you want to subscribe to this journal, see our rates


Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
Volume 71, n° 1
pages 70-76 (juillet 2014)
Doi : 10.1016/j.jaad.2014.02.031
accepted : 26 February 2014
Original Articles
A retrospective analysis of the duration of oral antibiotic therapy for the treatment of acne among adolescents: Investigating practice gaps and potential cost-savings
 

Young H. Lee, MD a, ⁎ , Guodong Liu, PhD b, Diane M. Thiboutot, MD a, Douglas L. Leslie, PhD b, Joslyn S. Kirby, MD a
a Department of Dermatology, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania 
b Division of Health Services Research, Department of Public Health Sciences, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania 

∗Reprint requests: Young H. Lee, MD, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, 500 University Drive, UPC II Suite 4300 MC HU14, Hershey, PA 17033.
Abstract
Background

Duration of oral antibiotic therapy in acne has not been widely studied. Recent guidelines suggest it should be limited to 3 to 6 months.

Objective

We sought to compare the duration of oral antibiotic use with recent guidelines and determine the potential cost-savings related to shortened durations.

Methods

This is a retrospective cohort study from the MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database. Claims data were used to determine duration and costs of antibiotic therapy.

Results

The mean course duration was 129 days. The majority (93%) of courses were less than 9 months. Among the 31,634 courses, 18,280 (57.8%) did not include concomitant topical retinoid therapy. The mean (95% confidence interval) duration with and without topical retinoid use was 133 (131.5-134.7) days and 127 (125.4-127.9) days, respectively. The mean excess direct cost of antibiotic treatment for longer than 6 months was $580.99/person.

Limitations

Claims cannot be attributed to a specific diagnosis or provider. The database does not provide information on acne severity.

Conclusions

Duration of antibiotic use is decreasing when compared with previous data. However, 5547 (17.53%) courses exceeded 6 months, highlighting an opportunity for reduced antibiotic use. If courses greater than 6 months were shortened to 6 months, savings would be $580.99/person.

The full text of this article is available in PDF format.

Key words : acne treatment, acne vulgaris, costs, oral antibiotics, topical retinoids, treatment guidelines


OutlineMasquer le plan
Methods  (+)
Results
Discussion

 An American Acne and Rosacea Society Clinical Research Grant funded the research, but the society had no input into the preparation of this manuscript.
 Disclosure: Dr Thiboutot has served as a consultant and investigator for Allergan, Galderma, Intrepid, and Stiefel/GSK. Drs Lee, Liu, Leslie, and Kirby have no conflicts of interest to declare.



© 2014  American Academy of Dermatology, Inc.@@#104156@@
EM-CONSULTE.COM is registrered at the CNIL, déclaration n° 1286925.
As per the Law relating to information storage and personal integrity, you have the right to oppose (art 26 of that law), access (art 34 of that law) and rectify (art 36 of that law) your personal data. You may thus request that your data, should it be inaccurate, incomplete, unclear, outdated, not be used or stored, be corrected, clarified, updated or deleted.
Personal information regarding our website's visitors, including their identity, is confidential.
The owners of this website hereby guarantee to respect the legal confidentiality conditions, applicable in France, and not to disclose this data to third parties.
Close
Article Outline