These EHDs provide potential value to post-marketing drug safety surveillance and pharmacoepidemiology in China. Future research is warranted to assess the quality and completeness of these EHDs or additional data sources in China.

Biologics were not commonly used for AS in Chinese patients likely due to their high cost. Future studies are needed to confirm the potential long-term clinical benefits associated biologic treatment for AS.

Purpose: Psychotropic medications are commonly used for treating mental disorders; however, there is currently no study on how commonly they are used in China. This study reported the trends in psychotropic medications prescriptions in urban China.Methods: A national population-based study was conducted using the China Health Insurance Research Association database to estimate the period prescription prevalence of 11 major classes of psychotropic medications annually during 2013–2017. The World Health Organization Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification codes were used to identify psychotropic medications.Results: The prescription prevalence of any psychotropic medication increased from 8.110% (8.106–8.114%) in 2013 to 11.362% (11.357–11.366%) in 2017. The prescription prevalence of six classes increased significantly during 2013–2017, including sedatives-hypnotics (from 3.177 to 5.388%), anxiolytics (from 1.436 to 2.200%), antiepileptic drugs (from 1.416 to 2.140%), antipsychotics (from 0.809 to 1.156%), antidepressants (from 0.891 to 1.045%), and psycholeptic polypills (from 0.682 to 0.866%). The prescription prevalence of antidementia drugs increased from 0.069 to 0.122%, and mood stabilizers increased from 0.029 to 0.037%, although not statistically significant. The prescription prevalence of nootropic drugs, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications and drugs used in the treatment of addictive disorders was largely stable. Psychotropic medication prescription increased with age for all classes except for ADHD medications and mood stabilizers.Conclusion: Increasing trends in prescription prevalence were observed for most classes of psychotropic medications in urban China, although the prevalence was still lower than that in most developed countries. Further research is warranted to explore the potential treatment gap between China and most developed countries.

PurposeTo explore treatment patterns among patients with prostate cancer and bone metastasis and to compare clinical outcomes following use of different hormone therapies including combined androgen blockade (CAB), nonsteroidal antiandrogen (NSAA) monotherapy, and castration monotherapy.MethodsWe conducted a population‐based cohort study using data from the Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance database (2011‐2014) in Beijing. We identified 475 patients with newly diagnosed bone metastatic prostate cancer with at least one prescription for hormone therapy and described their treatment patterns over a median follow‐up of 20.7 months. Cox proportional hazards model was used to compare time to chemotherapy initiation between patients starting on different hormone therapies.ResultsHormone therapy and/or bisphosphonate therapy with zoledronic acid were the initial treatments in the majority of patients (87.8%); chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery were usually given later in the treatment pathway. CAB was the most common hormone treatment (73.7%). For time to chemotherapy initiation, hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 2.43 (1.08‐5.44) for NSAA alone vs CAB and 1.29 (0.78‐2.13) for castration alone vs CAB.ConclusionsOur findings show that while a wide range of therapies are used to treat patients with prostate cancer and bone metastasis in Beijing, hormone therapy and bisphosphonate therapy are the most commonly prescribed, and use of CAB was seen to be advantageous in delaying time to chemotherapy initiation over NSAA monotherapy. Future studies should explore longer‐term treatment patterns, including use of newly approved treatments.

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