Are patients suffering from stable angina receiving optimal medical treatment?
There is good evidence for the use of antiplatelet, beta-blocker and lipid-lowering drugs in the treatment of ischaemic heart disease, but few data on how these medications are used in treating stable angina pectoris. We examined prescription profiles for a sample of patients aged > or =65 years with stable angina, to compare the profiles to local guidelines and to explore the determinants of these profiles, in a cross-sectional study. We identified 11 141 individuals from the Quebec provincial out-patient pharmaceutical database for the period 1 June 1996 to 31 May 1997, and examined the percentage of these patients with and without associated co-morbidities receiving antiplatelet, beta-blocker and lipid-lowering medications. We used hierarchical modelling to examine the role of patient and physician characteristics in explaining the variation in the use of these medications. Calcium-channel blockers were the class of anti-ischaemic drugs most prescribed (63%). Beta-blockers were pres
