Patterns in drug utilization--national and international aspects: antidiabetic drugs.

Data on the prevalence of diabetes in the Czech socialist republic and on the age and sex structure of the diabetic population are presented in this paper as well as the distribution of patients according to type of therapy. The time period studied was 1972 through 1980. The following factors were supposed to affect the level of antidiabetic drug consumption in Czechoslovakia: prevalence of diabetes; organisation of health care; demographic indices and therapeutic traditions. Differences in age and sex structure of the population are probably a major reason for the observed differences in antidiabetic drug consumption between the Czech and the Slovak socialist republics. A good reciprocity was found between the sale of antidiabetic drugs measured as number of defined daily doses (DDD) per 1 000 inhabitants per day and the prevalence of diabetics treated with the corresponding drugs.