Perfil de utilização de medicamentos por indivíduos com hipertensão arterial e diabetes mellitus, em municípios da rede farmácia de minas Minas Gerais, Brasil

Abstract

Introduction: Studies on drug utilization are important tools to know the profile of users, identify problems and draw up strategies in order to meet the guidelines of the National Drug Policy and National Policy for Pharmaceutical Assistance. In 2008 a public network of pharmacies was implemented, called "Rede Farmácia de Minas" in the state of Minas Gerais. This network is consonant with the objectives of those policies and aims at ensuring access to medicines through structuring of the state pharmaceutical assistance. Objective: To describe the sociodemographic characteristics, health conditions and the profile of drug utilization in individuals with hypertension and/or diabetes mellitus, which obtain drugs through units of RFM. Methods: The overall strategy was to design a cross-sectional epidemiological study on the drug utilization. Hypertensive and/or diabetic individuals were interviewed, from January 18 to February 22, 2010, in half of the 64 municipalities then participating in the RFM. Information was obtained through semi-structured questionnaires, pre-coded, with questions pertaining to socio-demographic characteristics, general health, use of health services and medicines. The averages use of medicines were estimated and then stratified by sex according to socio-demographic and health variables. Results: Among 4777 respondents, most were female (68.8%), the mean age was 60.9 years (median = 61) and 64.3% had incomplete primary school or had never gone to school. Nearly half of respondents (48.8%) considered their health status regular, 90.5% reported the occurrence of at least one comorbidity and 50.4% consulted a doctor four or more times in the last year. Respondents reported using in the 15 days preceding the interview, a total of 18,019 medications (mean = 3.8, median = 3, range = 1-18). About 41% of respondents had some spending for the procurement of drugs within 30 days prior to the interview. Among these, the average monthly expenses was R $ 104.04 ± 204.17 and the median spending, R$ 60.00. The drugs most frequently used were those which act on the cardiovascular system (56.3%), alimentary tract and metabolism (14.9%) and nervous system (13.8%). The women, along with older individuals and those with worse health status stood out with regard to the use of a greater number of medications. Conclusions: Women, older individuals and those with worse health status should be prioritized in the design of educational activities aimed at the rational use of medicines. The high drug spending reinforces the need for further research to assess difficulties in access and if whether the drugs purchased through private pharmacies are owned by the National List of Essential Medicines