Doctors prescribed 546 daily doses per capita in 2013

AOK: Germans swallow many pills

30/04/2014

Doctors are prescribing more and more medicines in Germany. According to a study by the Scientific Institute of the AOK (WidO), the consumption per legally insured person has almost doubled in the past ten years. Last year, the Germans swallowed plenty of pills. According to the analysis, a total of 642 million drug packages were prescribed to nearly 70 million policyholders. This equates to 546 daily doses per insured, who consumed an average of 1.5 medicines per day.

Most medicines are prescribed in Saxony-Anhalt
The drug consumption is above average, especially in the eastern states, writes the WidO. In 2013, about 30 percent more drugs were prescribed in Saxony-Anhalt than on average in all other federal states. By contrast, the amount of pharmaceuticals in Bremen was 30 percent below the national average. According to the AOK, this research result is essentially due to the age structure of the population. In the East, people are on average older and thus more often affected by diseases. That would be reflected in high drug consumption.

„By far the most commonly prescribed medicines for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure“, it says in a message from WidO. These funds amounted to 18.5 billion 48.4 percent of all prescribed daily doses. With the cardiovascular means especially so-called ACE inhibitors are prescribed. These include ramipril and the AT II blocker, for example candesartan. „In 2013, over eight billion daily doses of these medicines were prescribed to the statutory insured“, so the WidO.

In addition to medicines for cardiovascular diseases, medicines for the common diseases diabetes and gastrointestinal diseases are also frequently prescribed. The drug profile of the year 2013 shows that the diseases accounted for the largest proportion of all medications. „21.2 percent of the daily doses prescribed in 2013 were solely for the hypertension agents of the drug classes ACE inhibitors and Sartane“, it says in the message. (Ag)

Picture: Andrea Damm