Methods to assess health economic aspects on drug utilization

The increasing rate of drug consumption is influenced by different trends which are partly counter-rotating. The increasing rate of price is statistically to separate from effects influenced by structural shifts in the drug spectrum. The analysis based on a randomized sample (0.1%) of all prescriptions in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1984 give the following: Total expenditure +7.4%; sold packages -1.6%; average value per prescription +9.2%; price +2.8%; shift in the structure of consumption +6.0%. The shift in drug consumption influenced by changes in demand or prescription habits were more intensive than price effects in 1984.