Determinants of the generic's prescription among general practitioners in Casablanca, Morocco: A cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Prescription of generic drugs is a public health policy challenge with a very high economic potential worldwide, particularly in the Kingdom of Morocco. Generic drug prescriptions seem to be an effective measure to decrease the cost of drugs and improve affordability. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors related to the prescription of generic drugs among general practitioners. This cross-sectional study was conducted among general practitioners in the prefectures of Sidi Bernoussi and Moulay Youssef in Casablanca between January and April 2019. The data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. In addition to a descriptive analysis of the results, logistic regression was performed to determine the factors that might be associated with generic prescriptions (prescriptions of at least 25% of generics). RStudio Software was used for the analyses. The factors associated with generic prescriptions in the bivariate analysis were intrinsic to general practitioners. Multivariate analysis showed that advanced age >40 years (OR = 3.89 [1.44-10.53]) and the good perception of the generics in terms of observance (OR = 4.67 [1.73-12.59]) and quality (OR = 2.82 [1.08-7.36]) were associated with an increase in common generic prescribing. This study highlights the influence of general practitioners' perceptions of the prescription of generics.