OBJECTIVE: To analyse whether the use of different groups of psychotropic medicines among educational groups in a general population was congruent with the occurrence of related diseases. METHODS: Data from The Danish Health and Morbidity Survey 2000 were analysed. The survey was conducted by face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of the Danish population aged 16 years and above ( n=16,690). The prevalence of four different types of psychotropic medicine use and related diseases in educational groups was analysed by indirect standardisation. Age and gender standardised prevalence ratios (SPRs) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated based on the total study population. RESULTS: In general, respondents in the two least-educated groups used psychotropic medicines more often and had a higher proportion reporting the related disease than could be expected according to indirect standardisation. The opposite picture appeared for respondents in the two highest educated groups (SPR<100). The overall patterns were similar for all four groups of psychotropic medicine users, although some of the SPRs were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: The results documented an uneven distribution of health problems in the general population. Psychotropic medicine use was congruent with the distribution of related health problems, which means that the least-educated groups in most need of treatment also had the most-frequent medicine use. Expenses incurred by the individual user did not seem to be a barrier to access to medicines, not even for specific groups of medicine ineligible for reimbursement in Denmark.
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OBJECTIVE: To analyse whether the use of different groups of psychotropic medicines among educational groups in a general population was congruent with the occurrence of related diseases. METHODS: Data from The Danish Health and Morbidity Survey 2000 were analysed. The survey was conducted by face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of the Danish population aged 16 years and above ( n=16,690). The prevalence of four different types of psychotropic medicine use and related diseases in educational groups was analysed by indirect standardisation. Age and gender standardised prevalence ratios (SPRs) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated based on the total study population. RESULTS: In general, respondents in the two least-educated groups used psychotropic medicines more often and had a higher proportion reporting the related disease than could be expected according to indirect standardisation. The opposite picture appeared for respondents in the two highest educated groups (SPR<100). The overall patterns were similar for all four groups of psychotropic medicine users, although some of the SPRs were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: The results documented an uneven distribution of health problems in the general population. Psychotropic medicine use was congruent with the distribution of related health problems, which means that the least-educated groups in most need of treatment also had the most-frequent medicine use. Expenses incurred by the individual user did not seem to be a barrier to access to medicines, not even for specific groups of medicine ineligible for reimbursement in Denmark.
Authors: Mythily Subramaniam; Vincent Y F He; Janhavi A Vaingankar; Edimansyah Abdin; Siow Ann Chong Journal: BMC Psychiatry Date: 2013-09-23 Impact factor: 3.630