ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the existence of differences in the use of generic medicines in Brazil according to demographic and socioeconomic variables and acquisition sources of the medicines.
METHODS
Population-based cross-sectional study, conducted with data from the Pesquisa Nacional de Acesso, Utilização e Promoção do Uso Racional de Medicamentos (PNAUM – National Survey on Access, Use and Promotion of Rational Use of Medicines). Data collection took place between September, 2013 and February, 2014 in homes of Brazilian cities (urban area). The use of medicines has been investigated in relation to the treatment of chronic diseases and, in the case of acute events, regarding use over the previous 15 days. Generics were identified by visualization of packaging presented by the users of the medicines. The independent variables used were sex, age, education level, economic class, and region of the Country. The statistical significance of differences between the groups was evaluated by Pearson’s Chi-squared test, considering a 5% significance level.
RESULTS
The prevalence of generic medicines use was 45.5% (95%CI 43.7–47.3). There was no difference considering education level. The prevalence was higher in females (47.0%; 95%CI 44.9–49.0) than in males (43.1%; 95%CI 40.5–45.8), and were higher with increasing age. Generic medicines were more used in the economic class C (47.0%; 95%CI 44.9–49.1) and in the South (50.6%; 95%CI 46.6–54.6) and Southeast (49.9%; 95%CI 46.8–53.0) regions. Generics accounted for 37.3% of the medicines provided by the Brazilian Unified Health System.
CONCLUSIONS
Currently, there is a choice of purchase or free provision by the Brazilian Unified Health System, characterized by quality assurance and reduced price regarding branded medicines considered as reference. In the private market, a considerable part of the population is choosing generic medicines thanks to the availability of this option for virtually all medicines most used by the population.
Drugs, generic; Drug Utilization; Socioeconomic Factors; Health Surveys
SUS: Brazilian Unified Health Systema Only medicines whose packages were shown in the interview allowed the classification as a generic, which corresponds to 63.2% of the medicines. Percentages adjusted by sample weights and post-stratification according to age and sex.b The economic classification variable according to the Brazilian Economic Classification Criterion 2013 of the Associação Brasileira de Empresas de Pesquisa (http://www.abep.org) presents 77 missings.c Number of medicines classified as generics that have information on economic classification and acquisition source.
a Only medicines whose packages were shown in the interview allowed the classification as a generic, which corresponds to 63.2% of the medicines. Percentages adjusted by sample weights and post-stratification according to age and sex.b Number of medicines classified as generics that have information on age and type of health problem.