Purchase of prescription drugs
Contact info
Personal Finances and Welfare, Social StatisticsJonas Kirchheiner-Rasmussen
+45 61 50 23 80
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The aim of the statistics "Purchase of prescription medicine" is to elucidate the population’s purchase of medicines via prescription. The statistics can be used to get insight into the distribution of redeemed prescriptions in relation to type of medicine, gender, age, geography and social conditions.
Statistical presentation
The statistics "Purchase of prescription medicine" contain information on all sales of human medicines in Denmark, which took place via prescription. The statistics also cover the sale of medicines that do not require a prescription but are sold on prescription. Sales are calculated in relation to the number of people who have redeemed a prescription, the number of prescriptions redeemed and number of redeemed prescriptions per citizen. The statistic covers the period from the 1st of January 2016 to the 31st of December 2024.
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Statistical processing
Source data comes from the Danish Health Data Agency, which once a month calculates all sales of human and veterinary medicines in Denmark, after they have validated and quality checked the data.
The sales are compiled on an annual basis and linked with selected personal information from Statistics Denmark’s registers, including users’ gender, age, geography, and education.
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Relevance
The statistics can be used by ministries and other public authorities for ongoing monitoring of the population’s redemption of prescriptions. Researchers can use the statistics as a proxy for morbidity and developments over time, while the general public can use the statistics for general information on pharmaceutical consumption in Denmark.
Accuracy and reliability
Pharmacies are required by law to report data to The Danish Health Data Authority, but source data only cover sales of human medicines via prescription. This does not necessarily mean that the person who bought the medicine has taken the medicine. At the same time, the statistics do not contain information on the purchase of medicines without a prescription and it does not contain information about medicines used in hospitals or in medical practices.
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Timeliness and punctuality
The statistics will be published in January 2025. Future releases are expected to be published in November.
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Comparability
Several comparable national and international statistics exist about the consumption of medicines. There are several factors that can influence the sales of prescription medicine. Regulations of witch medicines that require prescription and the amount of subsidies offered by the authorities, can vary from country to country and over time. Therefore it is important to be observant of these factors, if the statistics is used to evaluate the consumption of medicine over time or to compare consumption from country to country.
Accessibility and clarity
The statistics are published in Nyt from Statictics Denmark. In StatBank Denmark, the statistics are published under the topic Consultations of physicians.