National Trends in the Use of State-Reimbursed Fixed Dose Combinations with Statins in Latvia (2012–2021)

Description

Use of fixed dose combinations (FDCs) of statins with ezetimibe or with antihypertensive agents facilitate achievement of treatment goals set in guidelines. Our aim was to analyze statin FDC usage trends in Latvia over a ten-year period. . We analyzed all statin FDCs with ezetimibe or with antihypertensive drugs in a retrospective and longitudinal study using information from the National Health Service database on all state-reimbursed prescriptions from 2012 to 2021 in Latvia. The total number of units dispensed annually was calculated using the number of tablets or capsules in each package for each dose. High-intensity statin therapy was defined as atorvastatin 40–80 mg or rosuvastatin 20–40 mg. Version 22 of IBM SPSS Statistics was used to analyze the data. . Among all dispensed statins, proportion of FDCs with ezetimibe grew from 0.21% in 2012 to 9.97% in 2021. After being commercially available in 2018, high-intensity statin FDCs with ezetimibe had an increase in dispensing rate from 0.94% to 6.81% by 2021. Among all dispensed ezetimibes, proportion of FDCs with statins quadrupled from 22.18% in 2012 to 92.46% in 2021. Proportion of statin FDCs with one or more antihypertensive agents out of all dispensed statins continued increasing from 9.76% in 2012 to 15.10% in 2021. Among all statins, the proportion of statin combinations with one antihypertensive drug decreased threefold from 9.76% in 2012 to 3.69% in 2021, while use of statin combinations with 2 antihypertensive drugs increased from 0.19% in 2016 to 3.47% in 2021.. In Latvia, the use of statin FDCs in combination with other medications has greatly increased between 2012 and 2021, particularly when combined with ezetimibe and two antihypertensive medications. Combinations containing high-intensity statins are also increasingly used.

Period	29 Mar 2023
Event title	RSU Research week 2023: Society. Health. Welfare
Event type	Conference
Conference number	9
Organiser	Rīga Stradiņš University
Location	Riga, LatviaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International