People in deprived areas prescribed double the number of medications
People in deprived areas are prescribed twice as many medicines by the age of 40 than those in the most affluent postcodes, an analysis of NHS data has shown.
The study looking at almost 53 million health records found that people in deprived areas are also prescribed more drugs from an earlier age.
It also showed that women were dispensed more medicines than men earlier in life, particularly for mental health conditions.
Medicines dispensing was highest amongst Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities, the team reported in Nature Health.
Focusing on the period just before, through and out of the other side of the pandemic, the researchers found that polypharmacy was on the rise.
Overall, more than 40% of 70-year-olds were dispensed more than five different medicines.
Among children, 5% of three-year-olds were on three or more medicines, they found.
Over time, different classes of medicines saw varying trends, they said.
After a sharp drop in 2020 with the pandemic, new dispensing of medicines for heart disease and diabetes then grew larger afterwards.
But dispensing for some conditions like mental health conditions dropped and remained lower than before the pandemic, they reported.
They noted that while prescription numbers and costs are tracked, medicines data, outcomes and patient characteristics was not previously routinely linked.
But the team has now developed a dashboard to help representatives from the NHS, NICE, MHRA and researchers to track outcomes and side effects.
Co-author Professor Reecha Sofat, associate director of the BHF Data Science Centre at Health Data Research UK and NIHR research professor at the University of Liverpool, said: ‘For the first time, we can see at a national level how medicines are being used, who is taking them, and where inequalities exist.
‘This insight is crucial to making prescribing more effective, equitable and safe. It also helps ensure that the billions spent each year on medicines truly deliver value for patients and taxpayers.’
She explained that rules changing how the data could be linked as part of COVID-19-era permissions provided them with a ‘unique opportunity to understand medicines use for the whole population’.
‘Now we need to make that access permanent – under the same secure safeguards – so regulators such as the MHRA and guideline groups such as NICE can track safety and value in near real time.’
Co-author Dr Caroline Dale, University of Liverpool, said the research was the first step towards linking medicines with health information including health outcomes ‘so we can start to understand not just what drugs are used, but how well they work in real-world practice’.
Meanwhile, data from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) has shown a 7% increase since last year in the number of people given an NHS Low Income Scheme certificate to help with prescription and other healthcare costs, such as travel for treatment.
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