2023-08-07 19:37:54
in Silvia Turin
More than 6 out of 10 citizens have received at least one prescription for a drug. Among the top 20 therapeutic categories for Class C prescription drugs are anxiolytics and sedatives. Among children between 6 and 11 years of age, antibiotics are confirmed as the category with the highest consumption
In 2022, total national pharmaceutical expenditure (public and private) amounted to 34.1 billion euros, up by 6.0% compared to 2021 and accounted for 1.8% of the Gross Domestic Product. More than 6 out of 10 citizens have received at least one prescription for medicines, with an increase in per capita expenditure and consumption with increasing age. In particular, the population over 64 years of age absorbed more than 60% of the expenditure and doses.
These are the numbers of the 2022 National Report on “The use of drugs in Italy”, produced by the National Observatory on the use of medicines (OsMed) of the AIFA (Italian Medicines Agency). From the analysis emerge details of the use of drugs that photograph the health of the country: not only a high average age of Italians, but also an aging often accompanied by various health problems; for adults instead preponderant anxiolytics and for children antibiotics. In the elderly population, the average expenditure per user was 556 euros. There is a slight difference in drug exposure between the two sexes, with a prevalence reaching 62.0% in males and 70.4% in females. About 10% more is spent on prescription drugs in the North and Center than in the South.
During 2022, almost 4.2 million assisted children and adolescents received at least one pharmaceutical prescription, equal to 45.0% of the general pediatric population. In particular, the increase was concentrated more in children between 6 and 11 years of age. Antibiotics are confirmed as the category with the greatest consumption in the pediatric age group, followed by drugs for the respiratory system, both of which have grown together with the recovery of infectious diseases.
Of the top 20 class C therapeutic categories with prescriptions at the highest expense in 2022, as many as 6 belong to the class concerning the nervous system, half of which is represented by benzodiazepine derivatives (both anxiolytics and hypnotic-sedatives) which therefore present as the most purchased category with 17% of spending and 22% of daily doses of class C with prescription. Other categories with an expenditure level exceeding 200 million euros are drugs used in erectile dysfunction, which show an increase in consumption (+9.5%) and expenditure (+1.2%) compared to 2021 and contraceptives, with +0.7% of spending and -0.5% of doses. Considering instead only self-medication drugs, the first active ingredients by expense are ibuprofen and diclofenac.
August 7, 2023 (change August 7, 2023 | 19:37)
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