VALENCIA. After a prolonged decline during the years following the economic crisis of 2008, The consumption of prescription drugs charged to Social Security has always grown in Spain, at a greater or lesser rate, since 2014. It is a trend that would respond to various factors, among which would be the gradual aging of the population and a greater variety of drugs financed by the State, according to experts. But even so, if a more detailed analysis of this evolution is carried out, it is observed that the increase does not occur with the same intensity in all the drug subgroups. What’s more, in some specific cases, the pandemic would have notably influenced the increase in its consumption.
This is clear from the data on prescription drugs dispensed in pharmacies recently published by the Ministry of Health, in which a significant growth in the global consumption of drugs can already be seen during 2021, the first year marked since its inception by the covid-19 crisis. However, more than a greater use of medicines by the population, this notable generalized increase It would also be a response to the containment of drug spending that occurred in 2020. In this way, and just as healthcare activity was affected in the worst moments of the pandemic, “pre-registration and pharmaceutical spending were also stopped”, according to the member of Primary Pharmaceutical Care of the Valencian Society of Hospital Pharmacy ( SVFH), Ana Padilla.
This stagnation, which, as the data from the Ministry reflects, caused the consumption of pharmaceutical packaging will only increase by 0.6% in 2020it was mainly due to the fact that the chronic patient, the most recurrent, “was the one who stopped coming the most and therefore the growth was less high”, also maintains the secretary of the SVFH, Monica Clemente. On the following year, on the other hand, it was recorded, with 4.3%the largest increase since the start of the statistical series in 2009. “That containment was recovered or compensated,” Climente underlines. A trend that It is also observed in the Valencian Community, where the cost of dispensing medicines in primary care and pharmacies only grew by 0.8% in 2020 but shot up to 5.6% during the subsequent year.
Despite this, and as pharmacy specialists also explain, yes, there are several subgroups of medicines whose consumption was especially accentuated in the years of the pandemicto which this increase could therefore be associated. One of them would be anti-acne preparationswhich despite presenting a more or less stable use in previous years, reflects a significant increase in 2021. “We use as a protective measure indoors, and outdoors if there are crowds, protective masks. This continuous and daily use of them increases the secretion of sebum in the skin and promotes the appearance of acne in areas of the mouth, chin or nose”, argue from the Medicine Information Center (CIM) of the Very Illustrious College Official of Pharmacists of Valencia (Micof).
In this way, the use of anti-acne preparations for systemic use, which in eleven years had never grown above 5%, showed a year-on-year increase of more than 30% in 2021, while drugs of this type thought to for topical use also increased considerably. In addition, the set of drugs that grew the most last year was that containing carbamic acid esters, muscle relaxants whose consumption increased by 121% in two years despite not having risen in the last five years beyond 25%. In relation to this, last January, the College of Physiotherapists of the Valencian Community (IOFCV) recalled that many of the people who suffer from persistent covid may suffer, among other symptoms, muscle pain, while the commissioner of the Presidency of the Generalitat in Mental Health, Raphael Tabaresassured in February that these ailments were also part of the symptomatology of those who suffer from a mental health problem derived from the pandemic.
In this way, the consumption of antidepressant containers has also increased with the arrival of covid-19. Although its use was already growing before the outbreak of the crisis, in recent years has been accentuated for various reasons, including some linked to covid-19. “Different articles and studies indicate that the lack of social interaction and the uncertainty about the economic and health situation have taken their toll on the population”, they maintain from the Micof, from where they confirm that this leads to “a greater number of casualties due to depression or anxiety crises that must be treated with antidepressants”. In addition, from the Official College of Pharmacists they also focus on the syndrome of the burned worker or burnoutailments “much suffered by those who were in the front line.”
They also grew a lot since the start of the pandemic antiemetic and other anti-nausea medicationsa less common symptom of covid-19 such as loss of smell, while anxiolytics, which reduce or eliminate anxiety, would have grown steadily since 2020 despite having shown a stable or downward trend in previous years. Beyond the pandemic, drugs against addictive disorders have also experienced great development in their consumption in the last two years, but in this case the start of financing in 2020, by Social Security, of various treatments will surely influence to quit smoking.
In addition, prostagnos and estrogens also grew, which as Micof points out “are used in women’s reproductive health as a contraceptive”, and ectoparasiticides, whose most common use is to combat lice. In relation to this, with the beginning of the last school year, the Ministry of Health affirmed that the minimum distance had also kept these parasites at bay, although the Ministry suggested on the contrary that some contact practices, such as selfieswould have contributed to its spread among adolescents and adults.
Vitamins and anti-cholesterol drugs on the rise in the last decade
In the same way, the consumption of certain vitamins, such as A and D, shows significant increases in recent years, but also in previous years. “Although we are a country with extensive exposure to the sun, much of the target population of vitamin D consumption cannot or should not be exposed,” they say from the Micof Drug Information Center. Among them would be “elderly people who, due to circumstances, cannot leave their homes, pregnant and lactating.” In the same way, Vitamin B, the use of which is also experiencing sustained growth, “has been shown to be widely effective in treating muscle painbeing sometimes used by chronic patients”.
As a whole, Ten years ago the consumption of vitamin containers was 3.8 million a year in Spain, and now it is 12.1 million. This means that its use has tripled in a decade., while in 2021 its year-on-year growth was 21.5%. A trend in which would have also influenced the inclusion of this type of drug as a food supplementeither for pregnant women or for those who lack a particular vitamin.
The data from the Ministry of Health also reveal, both since the start of the pandemic and in previous years, a steady increase in drugs containing lipid-modifying agentsused as indicated by Micof “for the treatment of dyslipidemia and hypercholesterolemia”. These diseases refer to health problems that affect cholesterol and triglycerides. In this sense, and according to studies by the Spanish Heart Foundation (FE), between 50% and 55% of the Spanish adult population would have high cholesterol levels.
Finally, considering the consumption of prescription drugs charged to Social Security according to the anatomical system on which they act, It is observed that almost 30% of the total intervene on the nervous system, while 25% would do so on the cardiovascular system, the two most relevant. After them, the alimentary tract would bring together 16% of the total, while 6% would go to the respiratory system and 5.4% to the musculoskeletal system.
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