Table 1.
Characteristics of the study population and prevalence of drug use per 100 inhabitants during 6 years of observation period.
| Study year | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 202,556 | 202,132 | 199,752 | 196,070 | 192,212 | 188,197 | – |
| No. of treated | 114,847 | 113,402 | 108,245 | 109,043 | 106,253 | 100,730 | < 0.001 |
| Prevalence of drug use/100 children (95% CI) | 56.7 (56.5–56.9) | 56.1 (55.9–56.3) | 54.2 (54.0–54.4) | 55.6 (55.4–55.8) | 55.3 (55.1–55.5) | 53.5 (53.3–53.8) | – |
| No. of prescriptions | 507,268 | 474,838 | 441,661 | 458,507 | 448,785 | 372,922 | < 0.001 |
| Median number of prescriptions per child (IQR) | 3 (1–6) | 3 (1–5) | 3 (1–5) | 3 (1–5) | 3 (1–5) | 2 (1–4) | – |
| Female (% of total) | 98,474 (48.6) | 98,266 (48.6) | 97,110 (48.6) | 95,383 (48.7) | 93,430 (48.6) | 91,526 (48.6) | – |
| No. of treated | 55,071 | 54,356 | 51,714 | 52,183 | 50,835 | 48,217 | < 0.001 |
| Prevalence of drug use/100 children (95% CI) | 55.9 (55.9–56.2) | 55.3 (55.0–55.6) | 53.3 (52.9–53.6) | 54.7 (54.4–55.0) | 54.4 (54.1–54.7) | 52.7 (52.4–53.0) | – |
| N. of prescriptions | 232,917 | 219,061 | 202,202 | 209,749 | 205,000 | 171,109 | < 0.001 |
| Median number of prescriptions per child (IQR) | 3 (1–5) | 3 (1–5) | 2 (1–5) | 3 (1–5) | 3 (1–5) | 2 (1–4) | – |
| Male (% of total) | 104,082 (51.4) | 103,866 (51.4) | 102,642 (51.4) | 100,687 (51.3) | 98,782 (51.4) | 96,671 (51.4) | – |
| No. of treated | 59,776 | 59,046 | 56,531 | 56,860 | 55,418 | 52,513 | < 0.001 |
| Prevalence of drug use/100 children (95% CI) | 57.4 (57.1–57.7) | 56.9 (56.6–57.2) | 55.1 (54.8–55.4) | 56.5 (56.2–56.8) | 56.1 (55.8–56.4) | 54.3 (54.0–54.6) | – |
| No. of prescriptions | 274,351 | 255,777 | 239,459 | 248,758 | 243,785 | 201,813 | < 0.001 |
| Median number of prescriptions per child (IQR) | 3 (1–6) | 3 (1–5) | 3 (1–5) | 3 (1–5) | 3 (1–5) | 2 (1–5) | – |
IQR, interquartile range; CI, confidence interval.