26/05/2013

University of Manitoba - Development & Advancement - Concept: American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Pharmacologic-Therapeutic Classificati

Concept: American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Pharmacologic-Therapeutic Classification System

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Concept Description
Last Updated: 2005-12-05 Introduction The AHFS system for classifying drugs is commonly used in North America. This system is updated once a year, and is published as a book by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists ( http://www.ashp.org/ ). See AHFS Drug Information Web Site at: http://www.ahfsdruginformation.com/ for more information. The AHFS code is a 6 digit number which includes three levels of information arranged in a step-up / step-down manner. For example, all AHFS codes starting with 20 represent a broad class of drugs for Blood Formation and Coagulation. Additional information is provided for sub-categories of this class as digits are added: Example: 20:00 Blood Formation and Coagulation 20:04 Anti-anemia Drugs 20:04.04 Iron Preparations 20:04.08 Liver and Stomach Preparations In Manitoba, the top 20 AHFS categories dispensed to residents for 1996 are provided below. These categories have been ranked by the number of claims. They represent 73.3% of all drug claims for that year. AHFS Classification 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 24:04.00 Cardiac Drugs 08:12.16 Penicillins # of claims % of claims 690,884 479,336 10.30 7.14 5.42 5.05 4.94 4.91 4.53 3.90 3.84 3.65 2.52 2.30 2.29

28:08.04 Nosteroidal Anti-inflammatory Agents 363,463 28:08.08 Opiate Agonists 28:24.08 Benzodiazepines 28:16.04 Antidepressants 56:40.00 Misc GI Drugs 40:28.00 Diuretics 68:12.00 Contraceptives 338,537 331,469 329,410 303,629 261,365 257,689 244,971 169,159 154,618 153,869

10 12:12.00 Sympathomimetic Agents 11 84:06.00 Anit-inflammatory Agents 12 92:00.00 Unclassified Therapeutic Agents 13 08:12.12 Macrolides

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26/05/2013

University of Manitoba - Development & Advancement - Concept: American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Pharmacologic-Therapeutic Classificati

14 08:40.00 Misc Anti-infectives 15 24:06.00 Antilipemic Agents 16 24:12.00 Vasodilating Agents 17 68:04.00 Adrenals 18 68:16.00 Estrogens 19 68:20.20 Sulfonylureas 20 52:08.00 EENT Anti-inflammatory Agents Totals =

141,349 131,702 128,248 116,982 112,034 107,044 101,229 4,916,987

2.11 1.96 1.91 1.74 1.67 1.60 1.51 73.28

Related concepts
Drug Classification Systems

Related terms
American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Pharmacologic-Therapeutic Classification System Drug Classification Systems

References
Kozyrskyj A, Brown TER, Mustard CA. Community pharmacist perceptions of a provincial drug utilization database. Can Pharm J 1998;131(8):24-29.(View) Kozyrskyj AL, Mustard CA. Validation of an electronic, population-based prescription database. Ann Pharmacother 1998;32(11):1152-1157. [Abstract] (View) Metge C, Black C, Peterson S, Kozyrskyj A, Roos NP, Bogdanovic B. Analysis of Patterns of Pharmaceutical Use in Manitob a, 1996: Key Findings - A POPULIS Project. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Evaluation, 1999. [Full Report] [Summary] (View) Metge C, Hendricksen C, Maine L. Consumer attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions about pharmacies, pharmacists, and pharmaceutical care. J Am Pharm Assoc 1998;38(1):37-47.(View) Metge C, Black C, Peterson S, Kozyrskyj AL. The population's use of pharmaceuticals. Med Care 1999;37(6 Suppl):JS42-JS59. [Abstract] (View) Miller E, Blatman B, Einarson TR. A survey of population-based drug databases in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal 1996;154(12):1855-1884. [Abstract] (View)

Keywords
pharmaceuticals

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