From drugs for hypertension to those for thyroid, "drug consumption is higher among people living in the most disadvantaged areas. And" overall consumption levels are higher in the South and in the Islands for most categories therapeutic.
An inverse trend, with higher consumption in the Northern areas and lower in the South, is instead observed for antidepressant drugs; finally, for anti-dementia drugs, the consumption rate is higher in the provinces of Central Italy ". This is what the Atlas of social inequalities in the use of drugs for the treatment of the main chronic diseases, presented today by the Italian Agency, reveals. of the drug.
Crossing the deprivation index, the pharmaceutical prescriptions delivered and the geographical context, the report examines 12 chronic diseases for adults and 3 of the pediatric age. "It is the individuals residing in the most deprived areas who have the highest per capita consumption rates", it says. Therefore, "the socio-economic position does not preclude access to treatment, but is, on the contrary, strongly correlated with the use of drugs".
This "probably due to the poor health of these subjects, which could be associated with an incorrect lifestyle".
Based on the observed results, the drug consumption rate reflects the geographic and gender distribution observed by the already known epidemiology of diseases. The report confirms, in fact, that depression is the most common mental disorder that affects women the most. As well as that dementia is constantly growing and affects about 1,279,000 people, of which 60-70% with Alzheimer's. While thyroid diseases are among the most common disorders and are the most frequent diseases of the endocrine system after diabetes.
