#1018 Profiles of medication use in dialysis patients globally
Authors: Feuersenger Astrid , Roth Luisa , Wolf Melanie , Arkossy Otto , Larkin John , Walter Jan , Arens Hans-Juergen 
Published: May 2024

Background and Aims

Global patterns of medication use in dialysis have not been defined so far. This project aims to provide a real-world view of medication use in dialysis and to characterize therapeutic classes and types of medications. An anonymized dialysis dataset of a global kidney care network called Apollo Dial DB was used. The most common prescribed medications administered at home by the patients were assessed.

Method

This is a multi-center, retrospective study using real-life data from adult dialysis patients captured in the first version of the Apollo Dial DB dataset. This dataset contains anonymized dialysis data (longitudinal observation level data) on more than 540,000 unique dialysis patients in 40 countries from Jan 2018-Mar 2021. Home medications were analyzed based on Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) codes. Top (most common) 5 ATC codes for home medication are presented, once as 4-digit ATC code classes (e.g., A12A for Calcium) and once as full/exact ATC code (e.g., A12AA04 as 7-digit code for Calcium carbonate).

Results

In Apollo Dial DB 497,723 patients had 10,538,324 documented home medication entries (on average 21 medication prescriptions per patient outside the dialysis clinic), thereof 114,978 patients had 1,607,168 ATC code entries. Each ATC code entry represents a documented prescription of individual length. All percentages shown below are related to 1,607,168 ATC code entries (not to patients).

The top 4-digit ATC code classes of home medication were Calcium (8.60%), Vitamin A and D, including combinations (7.33%), All other Therapeutic Products (6.84%), Antithrombotic Agents (5.89%) and Selective Calcium Channel Blockers with mainly vascular Effects (5.39%) (Fig. 1).

Out of the ATC class Calcium, Calcium carbonate (4.89%) and Calcium acetate (3.22%) are listed as number 1 and 3 of the top 5 ‘full’ ATC codes. Alfacalcidol (3.36%) of ‘Vitamin A and D, including combinations’ is also number 2 of the ‘full’ ATC code list. Amlodipine (3.07%), number 4 of the full ATC code list, represents the majority of ‘Selective Calcium Channel Blockers with mainly vascular Effects’. Sevelamer of ‘All other Therapeutic Products’ is listed as number 5 in the ATC code list with 2.91% (Fig. 2).

Conclusion

The top 5 home ATC classes of medications account for 34% of all home prescriptions in dialysis patients. They largely represent phosphate binders, vitamin A & D, antithrombotics, and antihypertensives/antiarrhythmic medications. Although, outside the dialysis clinic each patient has on average 21 medication prescriptions, a lot of these prescriptions represent the major medication classes.

It is worthwhile to mention the presented data are related to prescriptions and not to duration of use, e.g., both a medication prescribed for 6 months and a prescription for 1 week are documented only once, even if time on drug varies.

Further research is needed to explore global patterns, including further ATC code groups particularly on a patient level, accounting for duration of use and medication formulations, real-world application of various drugs (e.g., GLP1 drugs, HIF PH inhibitor) and accounting for US data with NDC codes.