Prevalence, trends, patterns and associations of analgesic use in Germany

Abstract

BackgroundDespite the public health relevance of analgesic use, large-scale studies on this topic in Germany are lacking. This study describes the prevalence, trends, associations and patterns of use of prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics, focusing on five of the most common agents: aspirin, diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen and paracetamol.MethodsData from two representative population-based surveys: The German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998 (GNHIES98 n = 7099) and the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Adults 2008–2011 (DEGS1 n = 7091) was investigated. Information on all medicines consumed in the previous 7 days was collected via computer-assisted personal interviews with adults aged 18–79 years. Associations between analgesic use and socio-demographic and health-behaviour factors were analysed using logistic regression models.ResultsAnalgesic use has increased over the last decade from 19 to 21 %. This was exclusively due to the rise in OTC analgesic use from 10.0 to 12.2 %. Prescribed analgesic use remained constant (7.9 %). Findings from DEGS1 indicate that ibuprofen is the most commonly used analgesic followed by aspirin and paracetamol. OTC analgesic use is higher among women and smokers, but lower among older adults (65–79 years). Prescribed analgesics use is higher among women, older adults, smokers and obese adults with medium or high socio- economic status. Adults performing more than 2 h/week of physical exercise use fewer analgesics.DiscussionAmong the adult population of Germany, the prevalence of OTC analgesic use has significantly increased over the last decade. We found differences between adults consuming OTC and prescribed analgesics (or both) concerning their health behaviour and health conditions. International direct comparison between prevalence rates of analgesic use was limited due to varying availability of analgesics between countries and to methodological differences.ConclusionsAbout one in five community dwelling adults aged 18–79 years in Germany use analgesics in a given week. Considering the potential harms of analgesic use, monitoring of prevalence, patterns and determinants of use at the population level are important steps to inform disease prevention and health promotion policies.

Knowledge and attitude of analgesics use among Saudi population: A cross-sectional study

“…[14,16] there is another study in Germany shown the opposite result. [17] Most of the analgesics user in this study are taking one tablet mostly for minor pains such as fever and headache which shows lack of information about appropriate adult dose which agrees with a Norwegian study which says that their respondents were using a lower dose of OTC drugs and had not exceeded the maximum dose. [18,19] We also encountered most participates who were convinced that NSAIDs and paracetamol have no side effects.…”

“…[10,20,21] Our findings generally revealed no significant difference in use of analgesics between male and female as the previous study in Iran and that converse to other studies in Riyadh, Taif, turkey, Germany, and Norway. [1,14,15,17,22,23] Like our findings in Saudi, many studies have also shown there is a significant age difference in the prevalence of analgesic use among the population. Studies conducted in Taif, Sweden, United States, and Norway have shown an association between age and analgesic use.…”

Evaluation and awareness of over the counter use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

“…The higher use of OTC NSAIDs in female and younger patients has been reported in previous studies (Duong et al, 2014;Sarganas et al, 2015). It was also found Ibuprofen was the most commonly purchased NSAIDs and this fact was similar to the results of other studies in Germany, France and the United States (Duong et al, 2014;Sarganas et al, 2015;Wilcox et al, 2005). In the present study, the education level of most of OTC NSAIDs purchasers were more than diploma, and, among all the participants, the doctorate clients had more information about NSAIDs.…”

“…NSAIDs usage is associated with gastrointestinal problems, kidney damages, asthma worsening in affected patients, increasing risk of post-surgery and post-partum bleeding, erectile dysfunction, and complications regarding conception and pregnancy (Sharma et al, 2015). Important drug interactions occur when these medications are used with several drugs such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), anticoagulants, antiplatelet drugs (Goldstein and Cryer, 2015) and antihypertensive drugs (Floor-Schreudering et al, 2015).…”

“…Another reason is that by OTC use patients do not need to pay physician's consultation fee, so it will lower the healthcare costs. Physical disabilities, constant time pressure of today's lifestyle and increasing availability and promotion of pharmaceutical products are noted as other reasons (Hughes et al, 2001;Sharma et al, 2015). Analgesics and in particular nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among drugs with the highest prevalence of use (with or without prescription).…”