Adherence to pharmacotherapeutic advice in the guidelines of the Dutch College of General Practitioners.

The guidelines of the Dutch College of General Practitioners were used to assess the adherence to pharmacotherapeutic advice for three diagnoses with a high prevalence: hypertension, depression and cystitis. Medication prescribed in 2001 was analysed for adherence to these guidelines. Adherences varies according to guideline across the diagnoses. General practitioners (GPs) adhered best to the cystitis guideline (70.4%), followed by the hypertension guideline (55.6%), the 2003 depression guideline (50.2%) and worst to the 1994 depression guideline (11.1%). One should be careful in interpreting these results in terms of rationality or quality. There are many reasons why GPs would consciously deviate from the guidelines. (aut. ref.