To the benefit of pharmacy: By applying individual-based data on dispensed drugs, we have studied all dispensed prescribed drugs for the entire Swedish population during four 3-month periods 2005-2008. Five or more (DP [greater than or equal to]5) and ten or more (DP [greater than or equal to]10) dispensed drugs during the 3-month period was applied as the cut-offs indicating the existence of poly pharmacy and excessive poly pharmacy respectively. An increase in the use of drugs and poly pharmacy have been displayed over time in spite of the fact that poly pharmacy represents a well known risk factor as regards patients' health due to the adverse drug reactions, drug-drug interactions, and low adherence to drug therapy arising from poly pharmacy. For policymakers, as well as for clinicians, it is important to follow the developing trends in drug use and poly pharmacy over time. We wanted to study if the prevalence of poly pharmacy in an entire national population has changed during a 4-year period.
Conclusions.
Finally, the mean number of dispensed drugs per individual increased by 3.6% (from 3.3 to 3.4) during the study period During the period 2005-2008, the prevalence of poly pharmacy (DP[greater than or equal to]5) increased by 8.2% (from 0.102 to 0.111), and the prevalence of excessive poly pharmacy (DP[greater than or equal to]10) increased by 15.7% (from 0.021 to 0.024). In terms of age groups, the prevalence of poly pharmacy and excessive poly pharmacy increased as regards all ages with the exception of the age group 0-9 years. However, the prevalence of excessive poly pharmacy displayed a clear age trend, with the largest increase for the groups 70 years and above. Furthermore, the increase in the prevalence of poly pharmacy was, generally, approximately twice as high for men as for women.
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