BACKGROUND In Germany, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are normally reimbursed up to the age of 12 years only. The aim of this study was to analyse prices of over-the-counter drugs used by adolescents in Germany and their association with socioeconomic factors. METHODS Based on the German GINIplus and LISAplus birth cohorts, data on drug utilization among 15-year-old adolescents (n = 4677) were ...

BACKGROUND Worldwide Ministries of Health (MoH) are encouraged to publish an updated Over-the-Counter (OTC)-Directory that pharmacists should adhere to in dispensing non-prescription medications. The Saudi Ministry of Health has published the OTC-Directory in the year 2000, and since then, it was readily available to all practicing pharmacists at no cost. This study was aimed to investigate the...

AIM To evaluate the content of household drug supplies and self-medication practice among medical and pharmacy students at Zagreb University in 2001, and to relate the findings to a previous survey in 1977. METHODS A cross-sectional anonymous questionnaire-based survey included 287 students who inventoried drug supplies in their family households and interviewed the household members on drug ...

BACKGROUND Prescription drug sales may vary considerably across regions and over time. This study aimed to assess whether there is an association between mean drug sales and prevalence of excessive use in a range of psychotropic prescription drugs with an abuse potential, and if so, whether the variation in mean drug sales mostly reflects variation in the prevalence of excessive use or mostly r...

This study explored the extent to which nonprescription and prescription drugs misuse among adolescents/young adults are related to their perception that it is safer than illicit drugs, ease of access, and lower societal stigma. Adolescents/young adults (N = 465; M age = 18.57, SD = 0.86) completed an online survey about their nonprescription and prescription drug misuse, other substance use, a...

Executive summary / 1 Introduction / 7 The particular impact of new or " patented " drugs on government health care costs / 8 The impact of all types of drugs on government health care costs / 18 The real cause of unsustainable growth in government health spending / 25 Research suggests that government health spending in Canada is growing at an unsus-tainable pace [Skinner and Rovere, 2006; 200...

This Issue Brief closely examines expenditures on prescription drugs, and discusses their potential to substitute for other types of health care services. In addition, it describes employer coverage of prescription drugs, direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs, and potential legislation affecting the prescription drug market. Prescription drug expenditures grew at double-digit rat...

introduction: irrational drug prescription is a controversial issue around the world that inter-feres not only with the patient's life but also with the society and economy. despite few studies, there is no enough data on the prescription ha bits of dental practitioners. so, we aimed at eva luating the same issue in rasht, iran. materials and methods: this cross-sectional re-trospective st...

M.J. Eisenberg. What is the problem and what is known about it so far? The costs of prescription drugs present a problem for many Americans. The prices of prescription drugs tend to be higher in the United States than in some other countries. Consequently, many Americans purchase prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies through the Internet. However, no study has systematically quantified th...

PURPOSE State variation in inclusion of ancillary services in daily Medicaid nursing home reimbursement rates, versus covering ancillary costs outside of such rates, makes rate comparisons difficult. The purpose of this study is to adjust for inclusion of ancillaries when comparing Medicaid rates across states. DESIGN AND METHODS Data for 1987-1998 were drawn from a national survey of Medicai...