Investigation of social demographic and health variations in the usage of prescribed and over-the-counter medicines within a large cohort (South Yorkshire UK)

摘要

ObjectivesPrescribed and over-the-counter (non-prescribed) medicine usage has increased in recent years; however, there has been less investigation of the socioeconomic predictors of use. This has been due to a lack of data, especially for over-the-counter medicines. Our study aims to understand how prescribed and over-the-counter medicine patterns vary by demographic, social and health characteristics within a large population cohort.