2023 Volume 6 Issue 3 Pages 41-51
Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the number of drugs prescribed according to patient sex in all age groups using an insurance pharmacy dispensing database and to identify sex-specific differences in prescriptions.
Methods: Using dispensing receipt data for a 3-month period beginning from August 1, 2016, we investigated sex-specific differences in the number of drugs considering age group and drug class.
Results: Overall, 25,148 participants (12,943 male and 12,205 female) were included. Among male participants, the number of drugs prescribed increased with age, and in the 45-74-year age groups, the number of drugs prescribed was higher among men than among women, with lifestyle-related drugs being most commonly prescribed. In contrast, among women, the number of drugs prescribed increased moderately in the middle age group but increased rapidly after the age of 65 years.
Conclusion: According to the results, an increase in the number of drugs prescribed with an increase in age is driven not only by age but also considerably by sex. Estrogen is proposed as a major factor contributing to the sex-specific differences.
