Table 3.
Pharmacoepidemiological data on drug use, drug abuse parameters and concomitant use of benzodiazepines and opioids for the different users of carisoprodol, codein combinations, diazepam, esomeprazole, metformin and salbutamol
| Drug user characteristics | Drug abuse parameters | Other prescriptions§ | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | Age (years), mean (SD) | Female gender, N (%) | Drug (DDDs year−1), mean (SD) | Share from GPs*, (%) | Lorenz 1%, % of all drug dispensed | Max. therapeutic intensity (highest prescription: DDDs day−1)†, mean (SD) | Number of pharmacies, mean (SD) | Number of prescribers, mean (SD) | More than 3 prescribers N (%) | From 1% highest prescribers‡N (%) | Benzo- diazepines (DDDs year−1), mean (SD) | Opioides (DDDs year−1), mean (SD) | |
| Carisoprodol | 83 713 | 48.4 (14.0) | 53 889 (64.4) | 45 (110) | 54 | 17.7 | 1.3 (3.3) | 1.1 (0.4) | 1.1 (0.5) | 1842 (2.2) | 10 967 (13.0) | 74 (295) | 59 (194) |
| Codeine combinations – exclusive psycholeptics | 378 524 | 52.7 (18.8) | 214 070 (57%) | 51 (118) | 53 | 16.4 | 1.5 (3.9) | 1.1 (0.4) | 1.2 (0.6) | 13 852 (3.7) | 32 204 (8.5) | 51 (213) | 56 (138) |
| Diazepam | 150 156 | 58.5 (18.4) | 97 212 (65%) | 114 (191) | 56 | 10.6 | 2.0 (6.2) | 1.2 (0.5) | 1.2 (0.5) | 3 992 (2.7) | 21 543 (14.3) | 154 (310) | 52 (174) |
| Esomeprazole | 112 138 | 57.8 (17.2) | 60 052 (54%) | 166 (170) | 52 | 5.3 | 2.7 (9.9) | 1.17 (0.45) | 1.1 (0.4) | 1 557 (1.4) | 8 650 (7.7) | 37 (175) | 26 (120) |
| Metformin | 59 536 | 62.9 (14.3) | 28 672 (48%) | 236 (160) | 58 | 3.2 | 3.1 (11.8) | 1.2 (0.5) | 1.1 (0.4) | 839 (1.4) | 4 749 (8.0) | 24 (123) | 15 (74) |
| Salbutamol | 134 202 | 39.5 (25.8) | 71 855 (54%) | 122 (224) | 51 | 12.3 | 3.4 (12.2) | 1.5 (0.4) | 1.1 (0.4) | 1 456 (1.1) | 8 835 (6.6) | 29 (167) | 19 (110) |
Data are given as mean (standard deviation) or as number (percentage of total number in group) (Norwegian Prescription Database 2004).
General practitioners (GPs) were specialists of family medicine. Doctors could be practising as GPs for some years without being specialists in family medicine.
The number of defined daily doses (DDDs) of the drug for each patient receiving at least two prescriptions for the drug was divided by the number of days until the next prescription. If a patient received two prescriptions for the drug on the same day, the number of DDDs on these two prescriptions were added and divided by the number of days until the next prescription. The highest DDD per day for each patient was recorded.
The doctors were characterized according to how much of the total amount of benzodiazepines or opioids they prescribed. The highest prescribing doctors were the 1% of the doctors that had prescribed most of these drugs.
For all drugs [including N05BA01 (diazepam) and N02AA59 (codeine combinations)] all opioids and benzodiazepines are included.