Changes in prescribing and healthcare resource utilization after FDA Drug Safety Communications involving zolpidem-containing medications

PurposeProducts containing the sedative/hypnotic zolpidem were subject to Drug Safety Communications (DSCs) in January and May 2013 describing the risk of next-morning impairment and recommending lower starting doses particularly for women. This study aimed to assess whether zolpidem DSCs were associated with prescribing-pattern changes between January 2011 and December 2013. MethodsWe assessed overall dispensings of zolpidem-containing products between January 2011 and December 2013 by conducting a time-series analysis. Analyses were stratified by gender because the DSC contained gender-specific information. Participants were patients drawn from the Optum Clinformatics data source of commercially insured people in the USA. We evaluated changes in mean prescribed dose of the two drugs and health care utilization metrics. ResultsEach month of the study, more than 80000 patients received a zolpidem-containing product and approximately one-tenth as many received eszopiclone. The two DSCs did not affect the downward trajectory of new zolpidem prescriptions. However, there was an increase in use of lower-dose forms of zolpidem (30% increase, p<0.001), coupled with a reduction in higher-dose forms (13% decrease, p=0.03), so that the average dose decreased after the DSCs (from 9.7mg to 9.4mg, p<0.001), a change that was not seen with eszopiclone (from 2.74mg to 2.74mg, p=0.45). ConclusionThe DSCs related to zolpidem-containing products shifted prescribing toward the lower-dose formulations, consistent with the recommendations in the DSCs. Copyright (c) 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.