Table 2 Prescribing behavior of physicians
| Â | Which constitutes for you the basic criterion for selecting a drug? | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Â | Greece | Cyprus | Difference | p-value |
Proven clinical effectiveness | 94.85% | 93.26% | 1.59% | 0.392 |
Pharmaceutical delivery mode | 38.21% | 9.84% | 28.37% | 0.000 |
Recommended daily dose | 35.55% | 4.15% | 31.40% | 0.000 |
Cost to the patient | 41.86% | 8.29% | 33.57% | 0.000 |
Patient preference | 11.05% | 0.52% | 10.53% | 0.000 |
Other | 2.49% | 3.63% | -1.14% | 0.406 |
| Â | Which sources do you take into account in justifying your prescription choices? | |||
| Â | Greece | Cyprus | Difference | p-value |
Publications in medical journals | 73.75% | 58.55% | 15.20% | 0.000 |
Medical textbooks | 60.71% | 44.04% | 16.67% | 0.000 |
Medical congress announcements | 70.27% | 69.43% | 0.84% | 0.813 |
Pharmaceutical sales representatives | 51.99% | 61.14% | -9.15% | 0.016 |
Medical libraries and internet data bases | 29.49% | 28.50% | 0.99% | 0.757 |
Others | 3.41% | 0.52% | 2.89% | 0.000 |
| Â | For what reasons do you search further information from the above sources on your prescription choice? | |||
| Â | Greece | Cyprus | Difference | p-value |
Dose | 43.02% | 41.45% | 1.57% | 0.668 |
Adverse drug reactions | 81.48% | 77.20% | 4.28% | 0.182 |
Interactions with other substances | 67.11% | 63.21% | 3.90% | 0.292 |
Provision during pregnacy | 53.99% | 56.48% | -2.49% | 0.514 |
Provision during breast feeding | 50.91% | 44.56% | 6.35% | 0.097 |
Liver-renal disorders | 49.25% | 55.96% | -6.71% | 0.079 |
Chronic disease | 43.44% | 21.24% | 22.20% | 0.000 |
| Â | How important is the cost of drug in your prescription selection? | |||
| Â | Greece | Cyprus | Difference | p-value |
Highly important | 15.95% | 11.40% | 4.55% | 0.066 |
Important | 46.59% | 51.30% | -4.71% | 0.218 |
Not very important | 25.83% | 30.05% | -4.22% | 0.225 |
Not at all important | 11.63% | 7.25% | 4.38% | 0.035 |
| Â | To which extend does the existence of patient insurance coverage, influence your selection? | |||
| Â | Greece | Cyprus | Difference | p-value |
Very much | 20.97% | 14.51% | 6.46% | 0.022 |
Enough | 31.11% | 23.32% | 7.79% | 0.021 |
Rather influence me | 17.89% | 26.94% | -9.05% | 0.000 |
Almost not all | 17.14% | 20.73% | -3.59% | 0.239 |
Not at all | 12.90% | 14.51% | -1.61% | 0.548 |