[Trends in drug utilization in elderly persons]

The aim of the work was to test the hypothesis that drug consumption, consistent with greater demands on therapeutic and preventive care, increases more in older people, as compared with the average population. The authors investigated drug consumption in old people during five-year periods with two-year intervals (1982, 1984, 1986). It was found that during these periods expenditure on drugs increased by 80.1%, although this population group increased only by 15.1%. For comparison the increase of drug consumption expressed in expenditure in the younger population (0-59 years) was 38.1%.