Differences in pharmaceutical consumption and expenses between immigrant and Spanish-born populations in Lleida, (Spain): A 6-months prospective observational study

Abstract

Background: There are few studies comparing pharmaceutical costs and the use of medications between immigrants and the autochthonous population in Spain. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether there are differences in pharmaceutical consumption and expenses between immigrant and Spanish-born populations.

Sick leave among native and immigrant workers in Spain—a 6-month follow-up study

“…Studies in Spain have highlighted differences in the health care services provided to immigrants and to the native-born population with regard to pharmaceutical consumption and the use of emergency hospital services (7,8). However, no studies to date have analyzed sick leave among immigrants living in Spain, and only a few have concerned sick leave among immigrants in Europe (9)(10)(11)(12).…”

Drug Utilization Pattern in Opthalmology Department at a Tertiary Care Hospital

“…Use of medicines constitutes an important part of many medical treatments and disease prevention interventions. Some studies on drug utilization in Spain have observed that immigrants consume fewer medicines and have much lower expenditures on pharmaceuticals compared to the autochthonous population 7,8 . Another aspect modulating drug utilization patterns of migrants is the possible lack of trust in the proposed treatment and as a consequence, poor compliance.…”

Explaining the demand for pharmaceuticals in Spain: Are there differences in drug consumption between foreigners and the Spanish population?

“…Contrary to the previous Spanish literature on this topic [6,12], this study uses a large health-related national wide dataset that allows us to conduct a detailed comparison of drug consumption between Spaniards and several categories of immigrants, thus taking into account the heterogeneity inherent to the immigrant collective living in Spain. In addition, this paper uses a richer set of variables than previous studies about drug consumption in Spain, such as type of health insurance and AC, two important determinants of drug coverage in this country.…”

“…For the case of Spain, a recent report shows that the (age-sex adjusted) pharmaceutical spending of immigrants is much lower than that of their Spanish counterparts [11]. The findings of the study by Rue et al for the city of Lleida in Catalonia suggest that both pharmaceutical drug spending and drug consumption are lower for non-Spanish-born individuals relative to Spanish-born individuals with the same age and sex [12]. Finally, the only national level study based on the 2003 Spanish National Health Survey corroborates the previous results for Catalonia showing that, as compared to the Spanish population, non-Spanish nationals consume fewer medications [6].…”

“…However, inpatients, retired, handicapped individuals and people who have suffered occupational accidents are exempt from copayment, and chronically ill patients only pay 10% of the prescribed drug price. Users of the private health system pay the full price of the prescribed drug, while users of civil servants' mutual funds pay 30% of pharmaceutical costs, irrespective of the type of health care provider they choose (as in Spain civil servants have the possibility to opt out between the public sector or private insurance companies) [3,12]. Taking into account the specific cost sharing arrangements in the Spanish health care system, we would expect patients totally or partially exempt from co-payments to be less likely to incur in self-medication, given that for these individuals prescriptions are cheaper.…”