Prescribing patterns analysis in Bulgaria

This study was developed to assess the prescribing patterns in the reimbursable and non-reimbursable prescriptions during 1996-2000 and their relevance to morbidity patterns in Bulgaria. It was manually collected 2266 reimbursable and 2330 non-reimbursable prescriptions with 4132 and 4291 prescribed drugs, respectively. The results shows that the leading causes for morbidity during 1995-99 were respiratory tract diseases with 40% relative share, followed by nervous system diseases with 12% share, cardiovascular diseases 10% share, digestive tract diseases, genito-urinary, skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases. All mentioned groups of diseases together with injuries and poisoning perform 70% of the total morbidity of the population. The prevailing causes for the mortality of the population were found to be cardiovascular, respiratory tract diseases, injuries and poisoning. The analysis of the collected prescriptions evaluated as mot often prescribed cardiovascular drugs (35%), drugs acting on digestive system (18%), nervous system (12%), respiratory system (11%) and anti-infective drugs (10%). In spite of the relevance among the prescribing and morbidity a lot of other factors are considered to be important as reimbursement system, pricing, and legislation.