PRESCRIPTION AND NONPRESCRIPTION ANALGESIC USE IN SWEDEN

OBJECTIVE: TO analyze patterns of prescription and nonprescription ana lgesic use in the general Swedish population, in association with pred isposing factors, enabling factors, need, and health behavior. DESIGN: Cross-sectional interview survey. SETTING: The Swedish Surveys of Liv ing Conditions for the 2-year period 1988-1989. PARTICIPANTS: A probab ility sample of all inhabitants of Sweden aged 18-84 years (n = 11 996 ). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prescription and nonprescription analgesic u se during a 2-week period. RESULTS: Women reported use of analgesics b oth with and without prescriptions to a greater extent than did men. A mong women, 12.2% reported prescription analgesic use and 30.4% report ed nonprescription analgesic use. The corresponding proportions among men were 7.2% and 20.0%, respectively. In the descriptive analyses, pr escription analgesic use was most common among persons aged 45 years a nd older, while use of nonprescription analgesics was most common in p eople aged 18-44 years. The polychotomous logistic regression analyses showed that headache and musculoskeletal pain were strongly associate d with prescription analgesic use to a similar extent among men and wo men. Headache was associated with nonprescription analgesic use among men and women, but a gender difference was found in the association be tween musculoskeletal pain and nonprescription analgesic use. Women wi th musculoskeletal pain used nonprescription analgesics to a greater e xtent than did men with musculoskeletal pain. Poor health - measured a s self-perceived health status and physical function - and high use of health care were related only to prescription analgesic use. Smoking and being overweight were associated with prescription analgesic use a mong men and with nonprescription analgesic use among women; alcohol c onsumption was associated with both types of analgesic use only among women. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that men and women differ in thei r choice between prescription and nonprescription analgesics and that the choice between prescription and nonprescription analgesics is infl uenced by an individual's pain, self-perceived health, and lifestyle.