| Popis: |
Introduction: The economic impact of particular forms of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), such as coronary heart disease and stroke, is elevated and expected to escalate. Statins substantially reduce the risk of CVDs, but the impact of their costs to the health care budgets is relatively high. The aim of our study was to identify and analyse changes in the usage of these drugs in Croatia from 2000–2015 and to identify the changes in the average price for 1 DDD. Materials and Methods: Data on the consumption have been obtained from the database IMS (International Medical Statistics). According to the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Drugs Statistics Methodology, annual volumes of drugs are presented in defined daily doses/1000 inhabitants/day (DDD/1000), while financial expenditure data are presented in Euros (€ ). Results: While the total consumption of CV drugs during the investigated period raised from 190.176 DDD/1000 in 2000 to 479.789 DDD/1000 in 2015, the total consumption of statins raised more than 10 times in the same period, from 5.081 DDD/1000 to 68.723 DDD/1000 in 2015. Average price of statins was more than 5 times higher than the average price of CV drugs in 2000, but it decreased from 1.27 EUR/DDD in 2000 to 0.17 EUR/DDD in 2015. The most prescribed statin in 2000 was simvastatin, and in 2015 atorvastatin and rosuvastatin. Conclusion: Increased lipid modifying agents drug usage is comparable to worldwide trends, but due to the price erosion, the financial spending on lipid modifying agents in Croatia raised at a slower rate than total prescriptions in DDDs. Prescription patterns among statins have changed during the investigated period. The average cost per DDD gradually decreased mainly as the result of the introduction of generics and the implementation of restrictive measures on the Croatian drug market. |
Full Text from ScienceDirect