THE DANISH PRESCRIPTION REGISTRIES

The extensive computerisation of Danish pharmacies has permitted the e stablishment of two large prescription registries: The Odense Universi ty Pharmacoepidemiological Database (OPED) and the Pharmacoepidemiolog ical Prescription Database of North Jutland (PDNJ). The Danish prescri ption registries content, coverage, completeness and the quality of th e data are discussed in this article. Furthermore, conditions for acce ss to the data are presented. The two prescription registries cover a background population of approximately one million or 18% of the Danis h population. The populations covered by the registries are stable and representative of the Danish population in general. The registries co ver all reimbursed medicine at the level of the individual user. Regis tration of a unique and permanent personal identifier enables the comp ilation of longitudinal drug histories and allows the linking of presc ription data to other population-based Danish registries. The degree o f completeness of the Danish prescription registries is excellent for reimbursed prescription drugs. A small number of comparison studies al so indicate high validity of the register information. The Danish pres cription registries represent a useful new data source for pharmacoepi demiological studies.