Abstract
Data derived from a 1968–69 household survey of 3,481 persons in the Baltimore Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area revealed rates of medicine use and characteristics of users. In the 2 days before interview, 56% of the study population used one or more medicines. Users of prescribed medicine (33%) averaged 1.8 different kinds, and users of nonprescribed medicine (36%) averaged 1.4 kinds. Among users of prescribed medicine, 39% were also self-medicating. Pain relievers, vitamins, and cough and cold medicines were the most frequently used types. Two-thirds of physician visits were associated with an injection, immunization, medicine, or prescription. Rates of use for both prescribed and nonprescribed medicine were higher in females and varied with age, with nonprescribed varying less than prescribed. Nonwhites were less likely than whites to use either prescribed or nonprescribed medicines in all social status categories. Use of prescribed medicine increased with the increasing severity of acute and chronic illness, but use of nonprescribed medicine varied little with morbidity. Use of prescribed or nonprescribed medicine did not vary with economic class. Differences in use by age, sex, and race could not be accounted for by differences in morbidity, physician visits, or use of oral contraceptives.
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Additional information
The authors are with the Georgetown University School of Medicine, 3900 Reservoir Road, Washington, D.C. 20007. Baltimore data were drawn from the World Health Organization/International Collaborative Study of Medical Care Utilization, supported in the Baltimore Study Area by grants 8-R01-HS-00110 and 5-T01-HS-00012 from the National Center for Health Services Research and Development. Analysis of the data was supported by grant 1-R01-HS-01408-01. Part of this paper was presented before the Economic and Administrative Science Section of the Academy of Pharamaceutical Sciences at the 121st annual meeting of the American Pharmaceutical Association, Chicago, Illinois, August 6, 1974.
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Rabin, D.L., Bush, P.J. Who's using medicines?. J Community Health 1, 106–117 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01319204
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01319204