Disparities in Oral Nutritional Supplement Usage and Dispensing Patterns across Primary Care in Ireland: ONSPres Project
Aisling A. Geraghty,
Laura McBean,
Sarah Browne,
Patricia Dominguez Castro,
Ciara M. E. Reynolds,
David Hanlon,
Gerard Bury,
Margaret O’Neill,
Sarah Clarke,
Barbara Clyne,
Karen Finnigan,
Laura McCullagh,
Sharon Kennelly,
Clare A. Corish
Affiliations
Aisling A. Geraghty
School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Laura McBean
School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Sarah Browne
School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Patricia Dominguez Castro
School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Ciara M. E. Reynolds
School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
David Hanlon
National HSE Primary Care Division, Service Improvement, Mountmellick Primary Care Building, Co. Laois, Ireland
Gerard Bury
School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Margaret O’Neill
National HSE Health and Wellbeing Division, Dr. Steevens’ Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland
Sarah Clarke
HSE Medicines Management Programme, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland
Barbara Clyne
HRB Centre for Primary Care Research, Department of General Practice, RSCI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, 123 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
Karen Finnigan
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland
Laura McCullagh
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland
Sharon Kennelly
National HSE Primary Care Division, Service Improvement, Mountmellick Primary Care Building, Co. Laois, Ireland
Clare A. Corish
School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
When treating malnutrition, oral nutritional supplements (ONSs) are advised when optimising the diet is insufficient; however, ONS usage and user characteristics have not been previously analysed. A retrospective secondary analysis was performed on dispensed pharmacy claim data for 14,282 anonymised adult patients in primary care in Ireland in 2018. Patient sex, age, residential status, ONS volume (units) and ONS cost (EUR) were analysed. The categories of ‘Moderate’ (t-tests, Mann–Whitney U tests and chi-squared tests. This cohort was 58.2% female, median age was 76 years, with 18.7% in residential care. The most frequently dispensed ONS type was very-high-energy sip feeds (45% of cohort). Younger males were dispensed more ONSs than females (p p p < 0.01). Further analyses should focus on elucidating the reasons for high ONS usage in residential care patients and younger males.
