[Subjective statements regarding use of selected drug groups--initial results of the 1998 Federal Health Survey].

This publication presents data concerning the daily frequency of usage for 34 selected drug-groups. The results are based on standardized medical interviews done with a representative sample of the German resident population aged 18 to 79 years during the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998. Nearly 52% of the interviewed men and women report the daily use of drugs at least from one of the above mentioned 34 groups during the last year before the interview. In both sexes the prevalence of drug-usage rises steadily with age. Women are more often drug-users than men with approximately doubled daily drug-usage in some medication groups. With worsening of the health status the sex-specific differences of drug-usage diminish. For females aged 18 to 45 years the rank-order of drug-usage is as follows: oral contraceptives (33.0%), thyroid drugs (11.5%), vitamins (7.6%). For males of the same age group the rank order in the 'new Bundesländer' is as follows: antihypertensives (4.7%), drugs against common cold and grippe (3.8%) and vitamins (3.8%). In the 'old Bundesländer' the rank-order for males is the following: vitamins (5.0%), antihypertensives (2.1%) and thyroid drugs (1.9%). For those study participants older than 45 years, drug groups for therapy of cardiovascular diseases become prominent and are the most often used medications with daily use. This could be observed for males and females. The results give a first impression concerning the drug-usage pattern in an adult resident population in Germany. The discussion of the results has to consider, that the answers given in the interviews strongly depend on the memory of the study participants and their lay-understanding of the different groups of the questionnaire. Further it has to be considered that the 34 drug-groups did not cover the whole medication pattern.