France Is The European Champion Over The Use Of Drugs

For this study, we selected seven European countries: France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands and United Kingdom. Over the period 2000-2011, we studied the consumption of eight therapeutic classes accounting for between 35% and 40% of drug expenditures in these countries: antibiotics, anxiolytics, antidepressants, antiulcer, hypolipidemic, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, anti-asthmatics.

One key lesson is the end of French exceptionalism in terms of consumption. In 2000, our country ranked among the top three in 7 of 8 therapeutic classes. Today it is largely fallen into line, as it is in the lead pack for two classes of products, antibiotics (1st position) and anxiolytics (3rd).

This is linked to various factors. It can be explained by the very proactive policy led by Medicare to reduce drug spending, with good use of campaigns and incentives vis-à-vis the general requirements that they cut their of certain products.

A catch-up effect

The campaign "Antibiotics is not automatic" (Editor's note: launched in 2002) has had an undeniable effect: there was between 2000 and 2004 to a drop in consumption of 22% of these drugs. Since 2005, however there is a moderate recovery in their use. Result, over ten years, antibiotic consumption decreased only 15% in our country.

The study concludes another misconception about antidepressants: while in 2000 France was in second place, it now comes in fourth.

In fact, the "decline" French in these rankings is also explained by a catching-up effect in other European countries through extending its coverage to Medicare, Spain, for example, saw advance its overall consumption of drugs.Article resource by----->Jump manual exercises


The United Kingdom, it ranks first for drugs against asthma because the prevalence of the disease, there is at least twice that of other European countries. "