E-drug: Sampling drugstores (cont)
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Drug use as an epidemiological parameter is always risky;
furosemide might be a reasonable indicator for heart failure in the
USA, but it might be different elsewhere, because furosemide
(mistakenly) is heavily pushed for the treatment of hypertension -
especially for this purpose a slow-release preparation has been
developed. But it is true that ACE inhibitors are much underused in
the treatment of heart failure. Deducing disease patterns and
incidence from drug consumption data often leads to completely
wrong conclusions. It often reminds me of researching stone age
feeding patterns from fossil refuse pits.
Dr.L.Offerhaus
Koedijklaan 1a, NL-1406KW Bussum, The Netherlands
Phone: +31-35-6923288. Fax: +31-35-6923290
E-mail: LO@EURONET.NL CompuServe: 71530,15
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