“Gender-Specific Drug Prescription in Germany” Results from Prescriptions Analyses

Abstract

There are still considerable differences in the medication supply for men and women. While the prescription volumes for both men and women have, for some time, been similar or have even risen for the men, there are still characteristic differences between the sexes when it comes to the prescription of certain indication groups. Women are still prescribed clearly more drugs in the field of psychotropic medication, especially antidepressants, hypnotic drugs, and tranquilisers. As the American Beers criteria for quite some time now and, more recently, the German PRISCUS list have shown, the effects of such drugs are potentially dangerous, particularly for older women. The known adverse effects are, apart from dependence problems, restricted cognitive capacities, insecure or instable walking, and badly healing wounds from falling accidents that are followed by patient’s nursing care dependency. In secondary prophylaxis after acute myocardial infarction, the characteristic prescription features of the various medicinal products that are used for both men and women (such as platelet aggregation inhibitors, beta-receptor blockers, ACE-inhibitors, statins) have become similar; women’s still higher mortality risk appears to go back to the fact that too much time is spent before proper hospital treatment commences. In general, more attention should be paid to the right medication, the right length of treatment, and the right dosage of the medication prescribed to women; the evidence concerning women’s supply of medicinal products should also be improved.