The epidemiology of prescription drug use. A record-linkage study in Norway

Three surveys will form the basis of this project: a) The Cardiovascular Survey Progamme in Norway 1972-2004, b) The Youth part of a) 2000-2004, c) Norwegian Epidemiological Osteoporosis Studies (NOREPOS) 1994-2001. The information in these databases wil l be supplemented with information on socio-economic status from Statistics Norway. National censuses were carried out in 1970, 1980, 1990 (only a sample) and 2001. Information on date og emigration or date of death will be taken from the National Person Register. These data will then be linked to the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD)(2004-2006). The study will be prospective in the sense that the register information from the surveys a)-c) together with the information from Statistics Norway wil l make up the exposure data and NorPD will contribute the outcome data. We will study to what extent the epidemiology of drug use for the cardiovascular system (specifically antihypertensives and lipid lowering drugs) coincides with the epidemiology of c ardiovascular disease (specifically coronary heart disease and stroke). We will study to what extent the relationship between bone mineral density and the use of drugs for treatment of bone diseases fits with the relationship between bone mineral density and risk of osteoporosis and hip fracture. Social inequalities in health are widely discussed and one question not fully clearified is whether the inequalities are increasing. We will study in detail the social inequalities in drug use. It is noted th at for the youth part of the study we have infomation on the socioeconomic status of the parents. Multiple drug use might represent a big problem at least from an economic point of view. We will try to identify predictors of such use and also study the profiles in these users.