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October 2009, Vol 99, No. S2 | American Journal of Public Health S362-S364
© 2009 American Public Health Association
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.171462

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Changes in Prescribing of Antiviral Medications for Influenza Associated With New Treatment Guidelines

Adam L. Hersh, MD, PhD, Judith H. Maselli, MSPH and Michael D. Cabana, MD, MPH

The authors are with the Division of General Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco. Adam L. Hersh is also with the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Judith H. Maselli is also with the Department of Medicine, and Michael D. Cabana is also with the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies.

Correspondence: Correspondence should be sent to Adam L. Hersh, MD, PhD, 3333 California St, Suite 265, Box 0936, San Francisco, CA 94118 (e-mail: hershad{at}peds.ucsf.edu). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking on the "Reprints/Eprints" link.

In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended discontinuing the use of adamantanes (amantadine and rimantadine) to treat influenza because of high levels of resistance to this class of antivirals. We examined changes in prescribing practices resulting from this recommendation and found that prescribing of adamantanes declined nationwide, with these drugs accounting for approximately 40% of the antivirals prescribed for influenza from 2000 to 2005 and only 2% in 2006. This finding provides evidence of a rapid change in clinical practice associated with the dissemination of treatment guidelines. Evaluating the effectiveness with which public health recommendations are translated into practice is important given the ongoing emergence of resistance to antiviral drugs and a novel H1N1 influenza virus.






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