Anthony Don(don@cs.umd.edu)

Data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey on drug mentions at physician office visits by patients aged 25 years and over. Author: NCHS.http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/health_data_for_all_ages.htm

Drug mentions

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

1995-1996 1997-1998 1999-2000 2001-2002 2003-2004

two-year period

nu

mb

er o

f d

rug

men

tio

ns

Unclassified, miscellaneous

All others

Oncolytics

Hematologic drugs

Neurologic drugs

Ophthalmics

Immunologics

Gastrointestinal agents

Metabolic/nutrient agents

Skin/mucous membrane

Central nervous system

Hormones

Respiratory tract drugs

Drugs used for pain relief

Antimicrobial agents

Cardiovascular-renal drugs

Drug class

Overall increase of the number of drug mentions per 100 population over the 1995-2004 period. The increase accelerates in 2003-2004. The contribution of specific drug classes to the overall increase is visible, especially : cardiovascular-renal drugs, pain-relief drugs,central-nervous system and metabolic/nutrient agents.

Rates of drug mentions per 100 population

Aging population ?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

year

rati

o o

f p

op

ula

tio

n (

%)

0-9

10-19

20-29

30-39

40-49

50-59

60-69

70-79

80+

Age class

This suggests several hypothesis to explain these trends : - increase of severe diseases due to an aging population, - harder stress conditions- more concern about nutrition and health.

Distribution of age classes across the population

Distribution of mentions

25-4425-44

45-64

45-64

65+65+

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1995-1996 2003-2004

two-year period

dru

g m

enti

on

s

Distribution of drug mentions across age classes

People from the older age classes use a larger part of the overall mentions.