To Örebro University

oru.seÖrebro University Publications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Differences in drug utilisation between men and women: a cross-sectional analysis of all dispensed drugs in Sweden
Department of Medicine, Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology (CPE), Solna Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Healthcare Development, Public Healthcare Services Committee, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Medicine, Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology (CPE), Solna Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Healthcare Development, Public Healthcare Services Committee, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3845-8100
Department of Medicine, Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology (CPE), Solna Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Show others and affiliations
2013 (English)In: BMJ Open, E-ISSN 2044-6055, Vol. 3, no 5, article id e002378Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

OBJECTIVES: Ascertain the extent of differences between men and women in dispensed drugs since there is a lack of comprehensive overviews on sex differences in the use of prescription drugs.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional population database analysis.

METHODS: Data on all dispensed drugs in 2010 to the entire Swedish population (9.3 million inhabitants) were obtained from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. All pharmacological groups with ambulatory care prescribing accounting for >75% of the total volume in Defined Daily Doses and a prevalence of >1% were included in the analysis. Crude and age-adjusted differences in prevalence and incidence were calculated as risk ratios (RRs) of women/men.

RESULTS: In all, 2.8 million men (59%) and 3.6 million women (76%) were dispensed at least one prescribed drug during 2010. Women were dispensed more drugs in all age groups except among children under the age of 10. The largest sex difference in prevalence in absolute numbers was found for antibiotics that were more common in women, 265.5 patients (PAT)/1000 women and 191.3 PAT/1000 men, respectively. This was followed by thyroid therapy (65.7 PAT/1000 women and 13.1 PAT/1000 men) and antidepressants (106.6 PAT/1000 women and 55.4 PAT/1000 men). Age-adjusted relative sex differences in prevalence were found in 48 of the 50 identified pharmacological groups. The pharmacological groups with the largest relative differences of dispensed drugs were systemic antimycotics (RR 6.6 CI 6.4 to 6.7), drugs for osteoporosis (RR 4.9 CI 4.9 to 5.0) and thyroid therapy (RR 4.5 CI 4.4 to 4.5), which were dispensed to women to a higher degree. Antigout agents (RR 0.4 CI 0.4 to 0.4), psychostimulants (RR 0.6 CI 0.6 to 0.6) and ACE inhibitors (RR 0.7 CI 0.7 to 0.7) were dispensed to men to a larger proportion.

CONCLUSIONS: Substantial differences in the prevalence and incidence of dispensed drugs were found between men and women. Some differences may be rational and desirable and related to differences between the sexes in the incidence or prevalence of disease or by biological differences. Other differences are more difficult to explain on medical grounds and may indicate unequal treatment.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
London, UK: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, 2013. Vol. 3, no 5, article id e002378
Keywords [en]
Epidemiology, General Medicine (see Internal Medicine), Public Health
National Category
Medical and Health Sciences General Practice
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-80896DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002378ISI: 000330538300022PubMedID: 23645921Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84878391605OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-80896DiVA, id: diva2:1417615
Available from: 2020-03-30 Created: 2020-03-30 Last updated: 2024-01-02Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMedScopus

Authority records

von Euler, Mia

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
von Euler, Mia
In the same journal
BMJ Open
Medical and Health SciencesGeneral Practice

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 154 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf