Consumption of medicine
The prescription and consumption of medicine are important indicators of how efficient a health care system is. Alongside the issue of financing, the debate also revolves around the question of overmedication, i.e. the claim that too many medicines are prescribed without all too stringent indications (causal application). A precise analysis of the consumption of medicine goes beyond the possibilities available to a Micro census. The data available relates to medicines taken over the past four weeks preceding the survey and to the complaints for which the medicine was taken (list of indications). The survey focused on the taking of both prescription and non-prescription medicines, and on the indications.
30.7% of the male population and 38.1% of the female population took prescription medicines in the four weeks prior to the survey; 13.9% and 18.6% took non-prescription medicines. On average, men took 0.71 medicines (0.56 prescription and 0.15 non-prescription) while women took slightly more, at 0.95 (0.74 prescription and 0.21 non-prescription). The calculation is based on the assumption that a maximum of one “other” medicine only was taken.
Age-specific differences
The average number of medicines taken increases with
age, particularly among women. With the exception of the under
The prescription medicines most frequently taken were medicines for high blood pressure (men 9.4%, women 12.2%). Aside from the category of “other medicines” (men 9.3%, women 12.9%), the second most frequently taken medicines were for heart complaints (men 4.9%, women 6.1%), followed by medicines for circulation problems (men 4.2%, women 5.7%). 4.0% of men and 4.8% of women took prescription painkillers during the month prior to the survey.
Painkillers were also among the non-prescription medicines most frequently taken. Roughly one in sixteen men (6.2%) and roughly one in eleven women (8.7%) took non-prescription painkillers in the four weeks before the survey. The second most frequent medicines in the self-medication sector (aside from “other medicines”) were medicines against colds.
Regional differences
The average number of prescription medicines taken in the four weeks prior to the survey increased sharply according to how urban the respondent’s place of domicile was. However, no difference was noted between men living in municipalities of 20,000 inhabitants or more and men living in Vienna. In fact, women in Vienna tended to take fewer prescription medicines than women living in municipalities of 20 000 inhabitants or more.
Among the Länder (federal provinces), Lower Austria (with an average of 0.62 prescription medicines) and Vienna (0.61) were the outright leaders for men, while the fewest medicines were prescribed on average to men in Vorarlberg (0.41), Tyrol (0.48) and Carinthia (0.48). Among women, the number of prescription medicines consumed on average was highest in Lower Austria, Styria (0.81 each) and Burgenland (0.80). The fewest prescription medicines were consumed by women in Vorarlberg (0.54) and Salzburg (0.66). Vienna (0.77) was only just above the Austrian average (0.74).
Similar results were generated by comparing the proportion of those who took prescription medicines. Among men, it was highest in Vienna, Lower Austria and Styria, and lowest in the western federal provinces (Vorarlberg, Tyrol, Salzburg) and in Carinthia. Among women, Styria, Vienna and Lower Austria were highest. By contrast, the proportion was also lowest for women in the west of the country (Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg) and in Carinthia.
The medicines most frequently prescribed (besides those from the “others” category) were for high blood pressure. Medicines for high blood pressure were taken most frequently (and first and foremost) by older persons, people with low education levels (frequently the case among older people), widows and widowers, pensioners and – structured by municipality type – by men and women living in the capital city Vienna. Prescription medicines for high blood pressure were taken most frequently by men in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, and by women in Burgenland, Styria and Vienna.
Non-prescription medicines were consumed most frequently by men and women in Vienna. Both the proportion of those who took non-prescription medicines during the four weeks prior to the survey and the average number of medicines taken were the highest here of all the federal provinces. In Vienna, 17.0% of men and 21.0% of women took non-prescription medicines during the four weeks before the survey; by contrast the figures for the federal territory as a whole were 13.9% for men and 18.6% for women. On average men and women in Vienna consumed 0.19 and 0.24 non-prescription medicines respectively. Self-medication (measured against the proportion of those who took non-prescription medicines) was lowest among men in Burgenland (10.0%) and Vorarlberg (11.0%), and among women in Vorarlberg (14.2%) and Lower Austria (15.7%). The average number of non-prescription medicines taken was again lowest for men in Burgenland (0.11) and in Vorarlberg (0.12); among women, it was lowest in Vorarlberg (0.15) and Carinthia (0.17).
The medicines most frequently taken in the self-medication sector were painkillers. They were taken with above-average frequency by men in Vienna, Upper Austria and Carinthia, and by women in Vienna, Tyrol and Upper Austria.
Please consult our German website for tables and charts containing further information.
