ObjectiveComparing the worldwide Essential Medicines Lists for Children (EMLcs) and National Essential Medicine List (NEML) of China (2012 edition), to provide evidence for establishing EMLc of China. MethodWe searched the official websites of WHO and Ministry of Health of some countries to identify published EMLcs. We compared the situation of updating, the number and classification of medicines, and the dosage forms between these EMLcs and NEML of China (2012). ResultBy August 2013, the WHO, India and South Africa had established EMLc. The number of medicines of NEML of China (2012) ranked first in the four lists. The WHO, India and China classified the medicines by pharmacologic action, while South Africa classified it by anatomical therapeutic chemical (ATC) classification. Except the WHO, India, South Africa and China did not have specific medicines for neonatal care or medicines for diseases of joints. The main administration routes in these four lists were oral administration, injection, and topical application. There were medicine restrictions in EMLcs of WHO and India, while no medicine restrictions in lists of South Africa and China. ConclusionMedicines listed in NEML of China (2012) do not match children's disease burden of China. The applicable dosage forms for children are few and the medicine restrictions are absent for the list. So this list is not suitable for Children.
Objective To evaluate and select essential medicine for acute and chronic gastritis using evidence-based approaches based on the burden of disease for township health centers located in eastern, central and western regions of China. Methods By means of the approaches, criteria, and workflow set up in the second article of this series, we referred to the recommendations of evidence-based or authority guidelines from inside and outside China, collected relevant evidence from domestic clinical studies, and recommended essential medicine based on evidence-based evaluation. Data were analyzed by Review Manager (RevMan) 5.1 and GRADE profiler 3.6 to evaluate quality of evidence. Results (1) Five guidelines for acute gastritis and seven guidelines for chronic gastritis were included. The recommended included omeprazole, ranitidine and domperidone. (2) A result of three CCTs (n=315, low quality) indicated that omeprazole was superior to famotidine and ranitidine in alleviating symptoms of chronic gastritis such as pain or discomfort in the upper abdomen, regurgitation, a burning sensation in the heart, distention and fullness in the upper abdomen (71.2% vs. 47.3%, 94.4% vs. 84.3%, Plt;0.05). A result of one RCT (n=100, low quality) and two CCTs (n=213, low quality) indicated that in HP eradication rates, omeprazole triple therapy and the control intervention had no significant difference (OR=1.09, 95%CI 0.44 to 2.70, Pgt;0.05). A result of one RCT (n=100, low quality) indicated that omeprazole caused no adverse reaction. A result of five CCTs (n=528, low quality) indicated that adverse reaction of omeprazole included poor appetite (two cases), nausea and vomiting (four cases), headache or vertigo (one case) and increased transaminase (one case). Omeprazole cost eight yuan (tablet) or four yuan (capsule) daily. (3) HP eradication rates of ranitidine bismuth citrate was higher than the control group (OR=2.05, 95%CI 1.29 to 3.25, P=0.002). A result of 15 RCTs (n=3 638, high quality) indicated adverse reaction of ranitidine bismuth citrate mainly included symptoms in the digestive system. A result of one RCT (n=100, low quality) indicated ranitidine bismuth citrate and omeprazole triple therapy had no significant difference (Pgt;0.05) and ranitidine bismuth citrate caused no adverse reaction. Ranitidine cost 0.36 yuan (tablet), 0.40 yuan (capsule) or 2.7 to 5.4 yuan (injection) daily. (4) A result of two CCTs (n=133, low quality) indicated that compared with the control intervention, domperidone was more efficient without adverse reaction in improving indigestion, promoting gastric emptying effect, and alleviating pain and distention in the upper abdomen, belching and regurgitation. Domperidone cost 1 to 1.3 yuan daily. (5) All kinds of recommended medicines are listed and legalized in China Pharmacopoeia (2010) and CNF (2010). (6) In clinical setting, above-recommended medicines should be applied strictly according to the CNF (2010) and the National Clinical Prescription Guidelines for Essential Medicine. Conclusion For acute and chronic gastritis, indigestion and HP eradication: (1) We offer a b recommendation for omeprazole (immediate release tablet/capsule for oral use, 10 mg/tablet) which should be cautiously used in children, elderly people, and women during pregnancy or lactation. (2) We offer a b recommendation for ranitidine (immediate release tablet/capsule for oral use, 150 mg/tablet) which should be cautiously used in patients with severe insufficiency in the liver or kidney, women in the pregnancy or lactation, and children under eight years of age.
ObjectivesTo construct a follow-up evaluation indicator system on the implementation of the WHO resolution of " Access to essential medicines” by systematic review, and to provide a methodological support for tracking the implementation of the resolution, with a view to providing evidence of decision-making to promote the accessibility of essential medicines and further promote and improve the national essential medicine policy. It also provides a methodological reference for investigating the implementation of other public health sector resolutions.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CBM, WanFang Data and CNKI databases and relevant international or national official websites of pharmaceutical administration department or academic organization were searched to collect studies on accessibility of WHO essential drugs from inception to February, 2016. Two researchers independently screened literature, extracted data, and qualitative analysis was used to sort out and screen the evaluation indicators for the implementation of the WHO resolution of "Access to essential medicines".ResultsA total of 60 relevant literatures, three guides and 19 progress reports of the World Health Assembly from official websites were included. Through the screening of indicators, we could get two parts: the indicators of measures to implement the resolution and the indicators of the results of the implementation of the resolution.ConclusionsThis study analyzes the implementation of the resolution of the health system in the progress report of the World Health Assembly 2013–2015, divides the implementation of the resolution into two parts: the implementation of the resolution and the results of the implementation of the resolution. An indicator system for establishing measures and evaluation the resolution has been found. Expert consultations will be further developed to establish the final indicators for the implementation of the "Access to essential medicines".
ObjectiveTo access the current study status and the existing problems of studies on National Essential Medicines System (NEMS) in China based on systematic review methods, and provide the evidence-based evidence and references to the studies of this field. MethodsThe following databases such as PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, March 2014), CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP and CBM were electronically searched to collect studies related to the policy analysis, implementation background, implementation strategies, implementation situation, implementation problem and implementation effects about NEMS in China. The retrieval time was from inception to December 2013. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and finally conducted analysis on study types, study time, source journals, authors' units, study themes, etc. of the included studies. ResultsA total of 1 607 articles were finally included, encompassing 56.38% qualitative studies and 43.62% quantitative studies. The number of published studies per year, the number of quantitative studies as well as the number of financiallysupported studies out of the total studies published per year had increased by year since 2009. The study topics focused on every parts during the implementation of NEMS in different proportions. The proportion of the national studies in the quantitative studies was lower than that of others. The regional distribution involved in the quantitative studies was unbalanced, and the ratio of which located on the East, the Central and the West of China was 2 to 1 to 1. ConclusionThe implementation of NEMS and related studies are mutually promoted. More studies are needed to be carried out on remote areas as well as West China. Although the studies related to these areas tend to be standardized and evidence-based, but more in-depth studies should be well advanced. Most of the topics of the studies are widely covered, and the topics of further studies should be enforced in the detail of implementation links. Most of the studies focus on primary medical institutions, and more studies are also needed for supporting and expanding the implementation of NEMS in second and three degree medical institutions.
Objective To investigate the disease constitution and cost of inpatients in Gaozha Central Township Health Center (GzC) in Wuzhong City of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region from 2008 to 2010, so as to provide baseline data for further research. Methods A questionnaire combined with a special interview was carried out, and case records and cost information of GzC inpatients in 2008, 2009 and 2010 (from January to November) were collected. The diseases in discharge record were classified according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) based on the first diagnose and the cost was analyzed. Data including general information of the inpatients, discharge diagnosis, hospitalization expenses, and drug cost etc. were rearranged and analyzed by Excel software. Results a) The total number of the inpatients was 1124, 642 and 747 in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. The female was more than the male in both 2008 (59.34% vs. 40.66%) and 2009 (60.75% vs. 39.25%), and their disease spectrum included 17 categories, which accounted for 81% of ICD-10; b) The top six most commonly seen systematic diseases with a constituent ratio from 86.63% to 92.06% in recent three years were as follows: the respiratory system, digestive system, circulatory system, genitourinary system, injury and toxicosis, skeletal musculature and connective tissue disease. Except the injury and toxicosis, the other five systematic diseases were commonly seen in females rather than in males; c) The top 15 monopathies in recent three years were pulmonary infection, tracheitis or bronchitis, coronary heart disease, soft tissue injury, gastritis or chronic gastritis, upper respiratory infection, hypertension, urinary tract infection, prolapse of lumbar intervertebral disc, pelvic inflammation, fracture, pneumocardial diseases, superficial injury, chronic cholecystitis and arthritis; d) The main burdens of disease for inpatients focused on 35-54 age groups, then followed by the age groups above 55 in 2008 and 2009. Except the injury and toxicosis, the other diseases were commonly seen in females rather than in males. Pulmonary infection focused on the age groups above 35; the onset of hypertension increased obviously and a sharp rise of hypertension existed in the 45-54 age groups in 2008, but the hypertention focused on 35-44 age groups in 2009; e) The total inpatients with top 15 monopathies accounted for 64.06% to 71.21%, including 8-9 chronic diseases ranking higher in 2010, and 6-7 acute diseases focusing on infection and injury; and f) The average costs of chronic diseases were higher than those of acute diseases. Conclusion a) There is a big gap between GzC and Yong’an Central Township Health Center (YaC) regarding the level of the regional economic development, the situation of disease burden and cost of inpatients. The former is demonstrated as general Central Township Health Center, while the latter as affluent Central Township Health Center in western China; b) In recent three years, the main systematic diseases are in respiratory, circulatory and digestive system; the inpatients suffer from more chronic diseases rather than acute diseases in their young age; the acute diseases mainly include infection and injury, and the pulmonary infection has ranked as the first during the past three years; c) The inpatients in 2008 and 2009 are mainly in ages of 35 to 54, and then are over 55 years old. Except the injury and toxicosis, the other diseases were commonly seen in females rather than in males; d) The patients’ average costs of chronic diseases for hospitalization and drug in 2010 were lower than those of YaC. Consideration on reasonable constitution of the cost for hospitalization should be paid attention to; and e) It is urgent to strengthen the construction of infrastructure and informatization in GzC.
Objective To investigate current situation of medical service and management in Gaozha Central Township Health Center (GzC), so as to provide baseline data for township health centers in both key techniques research and product development of drugs allocation and delivery. Methods A questionnaire combined with a special interview was carried out, which included the general information, human resources, medical service and management, and the practice of essential medicine list. Results a) The hardware condition of GzC was not good enough, and the economic status of the service recipients was lower than the average level of both Wuzhong City and China mainland; b) The constituent ratio of general practitioner (GP) and nurse, and GP and laboratorian were all lower than those of national level, while, the constituent ratio of GP and technician was a little bit higher. GzC was in short of medical technical personnel and, especially, the professional pharmacists. The logistics technical workers were as the same proportion as the nurses. The medical technical personnel without professional education background accounted for 3.4%, and about 38% of the staff members had no college degree, about 86.2% had at most primary profession titles. There was no personnel turnover of GzC in recently years; c) The bed utilization ratio was lower than national level (46.4% vs. 60.7%), while the average duration of stay and the in-patient and out-patient service workload of GP were longer or heavier than national level (8 vs. 4.8, 9 vs. 8.3, 4 vs. 1.3); d) The out-patient service in 2010 decreased 26.9% compared to 2009; and the in-patient service in 2010 decreased 42.4%; e) The average medical expense per outpatient and per inpatient increased 127.3% and 56.2%, respectively in 2010 compared to 2009; and f) Essential medicine list was put into practice in April 1st of 2010 and there was only 195 species available in GzC, which has not met the requirements of the national essential medicine list. Conclusion In order to meet the standards of general rural township health center in western China, GzC needs to cope with challenges of insufficient hardware conditions, short of staff, unreasonable personnel structure, low educational background and professional title of the staff, none human resources flow and low technical level of medical service. GzC dose well in drug expenses control, and the hospitalization costs are lower than those of the national level. However, it increases rapidly in 2010. The management of GzC may be influenced by zero-profit sale of the essential drugs, and appropriate subsidy and policy support are necessary to maintain its service quality. And it is required to complement the medicine based on the evidences, to carry out staff training and usage guidance of essential medicine, and to finally guarantee the safe and reasonable use of medicines.
Objective To investigate and compare the demands of dosage forms and specifications of essential medicine for children in different levels of medical institutions, so as to provide references for selection of essential medicines for children by levels of medical institutions. Methods In 13 provinces or municipalities, 104 medical institutions, including tertiary, secondary and primacy medical institutions, were investigated by questionnaires. Kinds of drugs, dosage forms, requirement types and requirement levels of drugs were analyzed and compared in different levels of medical institutions. Results Tertiary medical institutions had higher demands than other levels of medical institutions for the number of drugs types, dosage forms and level of demand on each drug (P < 0.05), secondary medical institutions were higher than primacy medical institutions (P < 0.05), but community health service centers were the same as township health centers. Conclusion The demands of dosage forms and specifications of essential medicine for children in different levels of medical institutions are different. So future studies should develop the essential medicines list for children depend on different levels of care.
Objective To investigate the situation of supplemental drugs to the national essential medicines list (EML) in primary health care facilities. Methods Supplemental essential medicine lists published by provincial governments around our country were identified. Characteristics of categories, names and quantities of the supplemental drugs were extracted and compared. Results Supplemental lists issued by 13 provinces were included. The number of the supplemental drugs of four provinces including Jiangsu, Guangdong, Inner Mongolia and Shandong surpassed 200. All the included lists contained chemicals and traditional Chinese medicine, as well as nine categories mentioned in the EML. The frequency of 17 drugs in the supplemental lists was over 10. Specific paediatrics drugs and antitumor drugs were considered by several provinces. Conclusion At present, EML cannot meet the requirements of the primary healthcare. Selection and amendment of EML may refer to the supplemental lists which reflect the demands of essential drugs in every area in our country.
Objective To investigate the disease constitution and hospitalization cost in Yong’an Central Township Health Center (YaC) in Shuangliu County of Sichuan Province from 2008 to 2010, so as to provide baseline data for further research. Methods Questionnaire and focus interview were carried out; case records and cost information of YaC inpatients in 2008, 2009 and 2010 were collected. The diseases were classified according to ICD-10 based on the first diagnose and the cost was analyzed. Data including general information of the inpatients, discharge diagnosis, hospitalization expenses, and drug cost etc. were rearranged and analyzed by Excel software. Results a) The total number of inpatients were 4 236, 4 335 and 4 844 in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. Females were more than males (56.99% vs. 42.96%, 55.59% vs. 44.1%, 54.36% vs. 45.62%), and their disease spectrum included 20 categories, which accounted for 95% of disease classes of ICD-10; b) The inpatients suffering from top three systematic diseases accounted for 62.74% to 72.31%, which included the respiratory, digestive, urinary tract and urogenital systematic disease; c) The top 15 single diseases were upper respiratory infection, acute bronchitis, pulmonary infection, acute gastroenteritis, fracture, acute appendicitis, chronic bronchitis, calculi in urinary system, cerebral vascular insufficiency, lumbar vertebra disease, acute gastritis, superficial injury, chronic gastritis, hypertension, and cholecytolithiasis or cholecystitis; d) The number of inpatients in the group of over 15-24 ages with chronic diseases increased with age and females were more than males. The acute disease burden of inpatients in 0-4 age group was the heaviest, who only suffered from acute diseases and males were more than females. The inpatients in 25-54 age group suffered from more acute diseases than chronic diseases and females were more than males; and e) The inpatients’ average costs of chronic diseases were higher than those of acute diseases in 2010 (1 564.45 yuan vs. 1 104.11 yuan) and those of either Xintian Central Township Health Center (1 311.81 yuan) or Gaozha Central Township Health Center (1 002.99 yuan). Conclusion a) In recent three years, the main systematic diseases that inpatients suffer are digestive, respiratory, and urinary tract and urogenital system diseases; the acute diseases are more than the chronic; the acute diseases mainly include infection and injury; b) During the past three years, the top 15 diseases have been stable and the same diseases include upper respiratory infection, pulmonary infection, acute bronchitis, acute appendicitis, acute gastritis, acute gastroenteritis, fracture, chronic gastritis, chronic bronchitis, and calculi in urinary system; c) It should be paid attention to the inpatients with chronic diseases in over 15-24 age group and the inpatients with acute diseases in 0-4 age group; and d) The inpatients’ average costs of top 15 diseases in 2010 were higher than those of either XtC or GzC, and consideration on rationality of the hospitalization cost should be paid attention to.
Objective To investigate the performance of Essential Medicine List (EML) policy over the past one year in Xintian Township Health Center (XTHC), so as to provide references for the delivery, storage and compensation mechanism of essential medicine for township hospitals. Methods Focus interview combined with a questionnaire was carried out to investigate the supply and usage of EML, the situation of both diagnosis-treatment services and the income-expenditure change before and after EML policy. Results a) It showed that there was an increasing trend with the preparation rate of EML from 62.2% before implementation to 87.3% after, and the proportion of EML income to total medicine expenses increased from 39.3% to 90.6% in XTHC. But problems still existed such as incomplete and old variety of medicine; b) The numbers of outpatient-time and inpatient-time kept growing, while medical cost for both average clinic cost and average hospitalization cost decreased to different extent; c) Although the gross income increased slightly, this center was still running in the red with the limited amount of financial assistance; and d) The proportion of medical care and drug kept decreasing while the proportion of drug cost and examination cost kept increasing. Compared with the situation in 2009, the proportion of examination cost from 2010 to 2011 had increased by 30%, and it still remained at the previous level after EML implementation. Conclusion The implementation of EML does not completely change the predicament of “Make compensation for doctors by selling drugs” in township health center. Owing to the sale policy of zero price difference and the poor performance of compensation for township health centers, XTHC is still running under deficit. Evidence-based medicine selection and research on compensation mechanism for underdeveloped areas are urgently needed.