Clinical Research
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2003. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 15, 2003; 9(6): 1365-1369
Published online Jun 15, 2003. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v9.i6.1365
Prevalence of anti-ulcer drug use in a Chinese cohort
Tzeng-Ji Chen, Li-Fang Chou, Shinn-Jang Hwang
Tzeng-Ji Chen, Shinn-Jang Hwang, Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, China
Li-Fang Chou, Department of Public Finance, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Professor Shinn-Jang Hwang, Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201, Sec. 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 11217, Taiwan, China. sjhwang@vghtpe.gov.tw
Telephone: +86-2-28757458 Fax: +86-2-28737901
Received: February 25, 2003
Revised: March 10, 2003
Accepted: March 16, 2003
Published online: June 15, 2003
Abstract

AIM: To estimate the age-specific prevalence of anti-ulcer drug use and to calculate the usage of different anti-ulcer drugs over 5 years within the universal health insurance program in Taiwan area.

METHODS: The National Health Insurance Research Database in Taipei supplied the cohort data sets of 200000 people. The ambulatory and inpatient claims of the cohort from 1997 to 2001 were analyzed. The anti-ulcer drugs included all drug items of the group A02B (drugs for treatment of peptic ulcer) in the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system (version 2000). The amount of drug usage was measured in unit of defined daily dose.

RESULTS: Among the totally 13034393 visits with 56672631 ambulatory prescription items, there were 398150 (0.7%) prescribed items of anti-ulcer drugs in 378855 (2.9%) visits. Among the 107649 admissions with 5762312 inpatient prescription items, there were 24598 (0.4%) prescribed items of anti-ulcer drugs in 11548 (10.7%) admissions. The annual prevalence of anti-ulcer drug use was 9.6% in 1997, 11.6% in 1998, 15.4% in 1999, 14.5% in 2000, and 15.9% in 2001 respectively. The 5-year prevalence was 36.1%. The age-specific prevalence among the people younger than 20 years was 9.2% in 2001 and 23.7% during the 5-year period. Cimetidine not only was the most popular ingredient among anti-ulcer drugs (57634 cimetidine users in 70729 all anti-ulcer drug users during the 5-year period) but also had the largest prescribed amount (42.3% of DDDs for all anti-ulcer drug users during the 5-year period). The annually prescribed amount of anti-ulcer drugs had grown from 4.9 DDDs/1000 inhabitants/day in 1997 to 7.5 in 2001. This increase was largely attributed to H2-receptor antagonists and the expanding number of users.

CONCLUSION: Prescribing of anti-ulcer drugs is indeed popular among the Chinese population in Taiwan area. The disproportionate use of anti-ulcer drugs by children demands further investigation.

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