The Use of Medication by the Spanish Population

Identifying how age and gender influence prescription drug use in a primary health care environment in Catalonia, Spain

“…Our findings regarding drug use trends in children, highest among infants, decreasing until adolescence and increasing thereafter, were also comparable with reports made in other studies [1, 13]. This probably reflects the higher rates of medical visits in this age group, and the increased susceptibility to infections, the more severe course of infections, and greater parental and physician anxiety than in older children [20].…”

“…In common with the other studies [13–15], a higher prevalence of drug use was observed in women, except in the 0–4 and 5–14 year bands. This result is unsurprising if we consider that a higher number of women consider themselves as suffering poor health [14, 16] and as presenting greater morbidity [13], which suggests they are likely to make more visits to their doctor and hence there is a greater probability of a diagnosis being made [14].…”

“…This is a particularly relevant piece of data, as there have been few studies within the Catalan Health Institute providing such information. Varying drug use prevalence rates have been reported in previous studies (45%, 67% and 78%) [13–15], which is partly explained by differences in the methodology adopted. Thus, the lowest rate of prevalence, reported by Del Rio et al.…”

Predictors of medication use in the Roma population in Spain: a population-based national study

“…27,29 The former factor is particularly relevant among Roma females (OR 3.59, 95% CI 2.08e6.20), who have been reported previously to have a high prevalence of chronic diseases, especially among those aged 35 years. 1 The poor health status of the Spanish Roma community is also related to the presence of unhealthy habits and lifestyles.…”

Medication and fitness to drive

“…Data from the Spanish general population based on the National Health Survey, 10 shows that 47.1% of the population over 16 years had used some kind of medication in the two previous weeks, more frequently among females (53.2%) than males (40.5%). The average number of medications was also higher in females (1.6) than in males (1.4).…”