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October 29, 2014
Study Questions Cigarette Copurchases With Prescriptions
Boston—Pharmacists see it all the time: Patients filling prescriptions for asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), high blood pressure, and/or oral contraceptives (OC) often purchase cigarettes at the same time.
The question, according to a new research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine, is whether pharmacies should follow the lead of CVS Health and other companies that have stopped selling cigarettes. The study, led by authors from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, emphasizes that smoking cigarettes can make managing a chronic disease more difficult. “Visiting a pharmacy to fill a prescription can be a chance to buy cigarettes,” they write. “Smoking can exacerbate respiratory conditions, make it more difficult to control blood pressure and can raise the risk of heart attack and blood clots in OC users older than 35 years.” For the CVS-funded study, the researchers focused on a group of 361,114 patients who received pharmacy benefits through Caremark and filled a statin prescription between January 2011 and June 2012, linking data from all purchases at CVS retail locations made with a loyalty card. Of 38,939 patients, the study found that at least one cigarette copurchase was made by: • 6% of asthma or COPD medication users, • 5.1% percent of antihypertensive medication users, and • 4.8% of OC medication users. “The decision of some pharmacies, including CVS, to stop selling cigarettes has been met with widespread support from public health and medical organizations,” the authors conclude. “Similar actions by other pharmacies may help prevent cigarette purchasing by individuals at greatest risk.” The debate has taken on greater urgency with the news that Caremark, the CVS-owned pharmacy benefits manager, soon will require customers to make an extra copayment if they get a prescription filled outside of a “tobacco-free” network. |
U.S. Pharmacist Social Connect
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