LEVODOPA USE IN DENMARK - HIGH-LEVELS IN GREENLAND AND THE FAROE ISLANDS

Levodopa (LD) sales from wholesalers to pharmacies during the periods, 1977-1989 in Denmark, 1981-1989 in Greenland, and April 1988-May 1989 in Danish counties and the Faroe Islands, were evaluated using a repo rted method and a procedure expressly developed for assessment of rand om variation comparative levodopa use (LDU) measurements. The referenc e population for comparison of LDU was the Swedish from 1984. LDU diff usion had stabilized by 1989 in Denmark, but considerable annual incre ments of LD sales were still seen in Greenland in 1989. Crude LDU in D enmark and most Danish counties amounted to a level similar to that of Sweden. Adjustments for age and infant mortality rates, taken as an i ndicator of socioeconomic development, disclosed statistically signifi cant twofold levels of LDU in the Faroe Islands and Greenland, and low est LDU in urban regions. The social or biological factors underlying such differences in drug use remain unknown.