Time trends in lipid lowering drug use in The Netherlands. Has the backlog of candidates for treatment been eliminated?

Aims To assess time trends in lipid lowering drug use in The Netherlands. Methods Data were obtained from the PHARMO‐database, comprising pharmacy records of approximately 300 000 people in The Netherlands. In the period from 1991–98, we estimated prevalence of lipid lowering drug use on the first Wednesday of October. A patient was defined as incident user if (s)he filled a prescription for lipid lowering medication after a 360 days lipid lowering drug free interval. Both prevalence and incidence estimates were weighted for the sex and age distribution of the general Dutch population. Results... Mehr ...