Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T06:41:44.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychotropic drug use in Italy: national trends and regional differences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Paul Williams ,
Cesario Bellantuono ,
Roberto Fiorio  and
Michele Tansella
Paul Williams*
Affiliation:
Cattedra di Psicologia Medical, Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Verona, Verona, Italy, Institute of Psychiatry, London
Cesario Bellantuono
Affiliation:
Cattedra di Psicologia Medical, Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Verona, Verona, Italy, Institute of Psychiatry, London
Roberto Fiorio
Affiliation:
Cattedra di Psicologia Medical, Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Verona, Verona, Italy, Institute of Psychiatry, London
Michele Tansella
Affiliation:
Cattedra di Psicologia Medical, Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Verona, Verona, Italy, Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Paul Williams, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Psychotropic drug sales data for Italy were examined for the years 1975–84. The principal findings were of more-or-less consistent annual increases in sales of antidepressants, minor tranquillizers and, to a lesser extent, of neuroleptics. These trends are interpreted in the context of the characteristics of the Italian National Health Service (NHS), and in relation to findings from psychotropic drug utilization studies in other Western countries.

Regional differences in psychotropic drug sales for 1983/4 were also examined. Marked differences were found and, in general, levels of use were higher in North/Central Italy than in the South. Factors influencing regional differences were explored using regression analysis. Regional NHS expenditure (excluding that on drugs) was found to influence strongly the sales of all categories of psychotropic drug, whereas there was also a marked urban > rural difference in the sales tranquillizers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , November 1986 , pp. 841 - 850
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aday, L. A. & Andersen, R. (1975). Development of Indices of Access to Medical Care. Health Administration Press: Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Albrecht, G. L. & Jackson, D. J. (1985) The social context of policy research. Sociological Methods and Research 13, 275–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, R. & Aday, L. A. (1978). Access to medical care in the U.S. Realised and potential. Medical Care 16, 533–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, R. & Newman, J. (1973). Societal and individual determinants of medical care utilisation in the United States. Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 51, 91–124.Google ScholarPubMed
Andersen, R., Kravits, J. & Anderson, O. (1975). Equity in Health Services. Ballenger: Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Baldassare, M. (1979). Residential Crowding in Urban America. University of California Press: London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balter, M. B., Levine, J. & Manheimer, D. I. (1974). Cross-national study of the extent of anti-anxiety/sedative drug use. New England Journal of Medicine 290, 764–774.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Balter, M. B., Manheimer, D. I., Mellinger, G. D. & Uhlenhuth, E. (1984). A cross-national comparison of anti-anxiety/sedative drug use. Current Medical Research and Opinion 8, Suppl. 4, 5–20.Google ScholarPubMed
Benjamin, J. & Ash, R. (1964). Prescribing information and the management of NHS pharmaceutical services. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A 127, 165–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergman, U., Grimsson, A., Wahba, A. H. W. & Westerholm, B. (eds.) (1979). Studies in Drug Utilisation: Methods and Applications. WHO Regional Publications, European Series No. 8. WHO: Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Bruun, K. (1983). Controlling Psychotropic Drugs: the Nordic Experience. Croom Helm: London.Google Scholar
Censis (Centro Studi lnvestimenti Sociali) (1983). XVII Rapporto Sulla Situazione Sociale del Paese. Fondazione Censis: Rome.Google Scholar
Censis (Centro Studi Investmenti Sociali) (1984). XVIII Rapporto Sulla Situazione Sociale del Paese. Fondazione Censis: Rome.Google Scholar
Cooperstock, R. & Parnell, P. (1982). Research on psychotropic drug use: a review of findings and methods. Social Science and Medicine 16, 1179–1196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crothers, C. (1979). On the myth of rural tranquillity: comment on Webb and Collette. American Journal of Sociology 84, 1441–1445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunlop, D. (1970). The use and abuse of psychotropic drugs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 63, 1279–1282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunlop, D., Inch, R. & Paul, J. (1953). A survey of prescribing in Scotland. British Medical Journal i, 694–697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunnell, K. & Cartwright, A. (1972). Medicine Takers, Prescribers and Hoarders. Routledge and Kegan Paul: London.Google Scholar
Farmindustria (1980, 1981). Indicatori Farmaceutici. Farmindustria: Rome.Google Scholar
Fleming, D. & Cross, K. (1984). Psychotropic drug prescribing. Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners 34, 216–220.Google ScholarPubMed
Gabe, J. & Williams, P. (1986 a). Rural tranquility? Urban–rural differences in tranquilizer prescription. Social Science and Medicine (in the press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabe, J. & Williams, P. (1986 b). Is space bad for your health? The relationship between crowding in the home and emotional distress in women. Sociology of Health and Illness (in the press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, P. & Cartwright, A. (1954). Who gets the medicine? Applied Statistics 3, 19–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartzema, A. G. & Christensen, D. B. (1983). Nonmedical factors associated with the prescribing volume in an HMO. Medical Care 21, 990–1000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemminki, E. (1983). Consumption of psychotropic drugs. In Controlling Psychotropic Drugs: the Nordic Experience (ed. Bruun, K.), pp. 92–108. Croom Helm: London.Google Scholar
Istat (Istituto Centrale di Statistica) (1976–1985). Annuario Statistico Italiano. Istat: Rome.Google Scholar
King, D. J., Griffiths, K., Reilly, P. M. & Merrett, J. D. (1982). Psychotropic drug use in Northern Ireland 1966–1980: prescribing trends, inter- and intra-regional comparisons and relationship to demographic and socioeconomic variables. Psychological Medicine 12, 819–833.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langbein, R. I. & Lichtman, A. J. (1978). Ecological Inference. Sage Publications: Beverly Hills.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lennard, H., Epstein, L. J., Bernstein, A. & Ransom, D. (1970). Hazards implicit in prescribing psychoactive drugs. Science 169, 438–441.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Magaziner, J. (1983). Density, living alone, age and psychopathology in the urban environment. Unpublished paper. University of Maryland: Baltimore.Google Scholar
Marks, J. (1983). The benzodiazepines: an international perspective. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 15, 137–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Medico d'Italia (06 1985). Speciale Dossier: I medici iscritti agli Albi Professionali al 31.12.84.Google Scholar
Norton, B. & Klein, H. (1980). More on the myth of rural tranquillity. American Journal of Sociology 85, 956–958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quirino, P. (1983). Criteri di ripartizione di finanziamenti alle autonomie locali. Riviste Internazionale di Scienze Sociali 41, 496–514.Google Scholar
Racco, M. & Loreti, p. (1985). Un farmaco per l'uomo. ISIS News. Mensile di Sanita Pubblica 7–8, 6–24.Google Scholar
Robinson, W. S. (1950). Ecological correlations and the behaviour of individuals. American Sociological Review 15, 351–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stolley, P., Becker, M., Lasagna, M., McEvilla, J. & Sloane, L. (1972). The relationship between physician characteristics and prescribing appropriateness. Medical Care 10, 7–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tansella, M., De Salvia, D. & Williams, P. (1986). The Italian psychiatric reform: some quantitative evidence. Social Psychiatry (in the press).Google Scholar
Tognoni, G., Bellantuono, C. & Lader, M. (eds.) (1981). The Epidemiological Impact of Psychotropic Drugs. Elsevier: Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Trethowan, W. H. (1975). Pills for personal problems. British Medical Journal iii, 749–751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waldron, I. (1977). Increased prescribing of Valium, Librium and other drugs: an example of the influence of economic and social factors on the practice of medicine. International Journal of Health Services 7, 37–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Webb, S. & Collette, J. (1977). Rural–urban differences in the use of stress-alleviative drugs. American Journal of Sociology 83, 700–707.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Webb, S. & Collette, J. (1979). Rural–urban differences: new data and new conclusions. American Journal of Sociology 84, 1446–1452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, P. (1979). The extent of psychotropic drug prescription. In Psychosocial Disorders in General Practice (ed. Williams, P. and Clare, A. W.). pp. 151–160. Academic Press: London.Google Scholar
Williams, P. (1983). Patterns of psychotropic drug use. Social Science and Medicine 17, 845–851.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woods, J. H., Katz, J. L. & Winger, G. (1983). Abuse and Dependence Liabilities of Benzodiazepines. Department of Pharmacology, University of Michigan Medical School: Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google Scholar
World Heath Organization (1983). Eighth Review of Psychoactive Substances for International Control 12–16 09, Geneva.Google Scholar