[Prescription for diazepam 5 mg tablets in Vestfold 1989 and 1995]. / Forskrivning av diazepam 5 mg tabletter i Vestfold i 1989 og 1995.

During the last five years, the prescription of tranquillizers has been reduced by 26% in Vestfold County compared with 19% in the country as a whole. This is probably a result of two initiatives: a common strategy to reduce prescription in the county, and monitoring prescription rate of the individual general practitioners. We examined the prescription of diazepam 5 mg tablets and found a reduction of more than 30% from 1989 to 1995. The reduction was greatest among the younger age groups and decreased with increasing age. The most probable reason for this pattern is a more restrictive attitude among general practitioners towards using diazepam to treat the young and middle-aged. The results for 1995 show that women still receive about 60% more diazepam than men, and women aged 70-79 years receive 117% more than women aged 40-49 years.

[Control of prescriptions of B-preparations. A registry study of B-preparations in Oslo and Akershus]. / Tilsyn med B-preparatforskrivningen. En registreringsundersøkelse av B-preparater i Oslo og Akershus.

In two Norwegian counties all prescriptions for benzodiazepines and analgesics containing codeine were registered over a two month period and the records were subsequently transferred to a database. 93,000 prescriptions were registered, equivalent to this 2.8 millions DDD. The registration showed great variation, both in the doctors' volume of prescribing and their prescribing patterns. 30 doctors of the total of 4,000 were responsible for 13% of the total volume prescribed. We propose that the doctors with unacceptable prescribing rates should be offered a special education program provided by the Norwegian Medical Association. The computer routines of the pharmacies appear to be inadequate for registration and research purposes. In 2% of all the prescriptions the doctors name could not be identified. Thus it seems warranted to use the doctors' identity number on prescriptions for these drugs. A reduction of the number of tablets in the largest packages dispensed should be considered by the authorities. For effective quality control of prescribing, better understanding is needed of the differences in doctors' prescribing patterns.