Determinants of medicines consumption in Poland

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present the most important factors of medicines consumption in Poland. The paper is based on primary research conducted on a sample of 428 respondents in March and April 2020 in Poland using an online questionnaire survey. An algorithm of classification trees was applied to identify classes of respondents who consumed prescription medicines and non-prescription medicines (over-the-counter - OTC). In addition, a logistic regression was proposed to assess relationship between medicines consumption and health status, pro-health behaviors, selected preferences in dietary choices, and demographic characteristics. In the paper lifestyle-related factors that determine the level of medicines consumption were identified. The authors argue that women aged 55 and over significantly increase consumption of both prescription and OTC medicines to maintain health and active lifestyle. What’s more they perform regularly preventive laboratory tests and read carefully information on the food labels before buying food products. In this cross-sectional survey we argue that women take more medications, are more critical of their health and take more care about active ageing. Even if they don't indicate health problems, 50% of them still consume medicines. Among men, 68% do not indicate health complaints and in this group more than 30% consume medicines. It seems that men in less extent combine medicines consumption with active ageing. The survey identifies classes of respondents who consume prescription medicines. These are patients who have health problems and use preventive health care, performing regular medical examinations. The more often medical examinations are performed, the more medicines are consumed. A group of people who often consume non-prescription medicines carefully read information on food labels before purchase, and perform systematically preventive laboratory tests. In general, consumption of both prescription medicines and OTC medicines in Poland increases with age of respondents. Health problems determine consumption of prescription medicines while gender is the most significant factor of non-prescription medicines consumption.

Keywords

• consumer behavior
• self-medication
• over-the-counter
• prescription medicines
• medicine market