Utilization Patterns of Anti-Asthmatic Drugs Use in Albania During 2004-2014

Aim: To evaluate the patterns of use of the out-of-hospital Anti-Asthmatic drugs in Albania during the period 2004-2014. Methods: The study was retrospective and we analyzed the prescription and consumption of these drug classes in the primary health care in Albania during 2004-2014. All data were collected from Health Insurance Institute (HII)[1] and analysed reflecting the ambulatory and outpatient use for the period 2004-2014. The data about the consumption of drugs were expressed as a number of Defined Daily Dose (DDDs) /1000 inhabitants/day. Utilization was measured in DDD/1000 inhabitants/day and was also compared with Bronchial Asthma morbidity/1000 inhabitants, to understand the covering of the population from the reimbursement scheme. For all the period under study 2004-2014, there were collected and analysed the data of import and domestic production of drugs, which altogether represent the real consumption of drugs in the country. These data were subsequently included in a comparative analysis with the utilization data according to the HII. Results: The values of consumption of Anti-Asthmatic drugs were 6.62-8.48 DDD/1000 inhabitants/day respectively in 2004-2014. 2.14-3.76 DDD/1000 inhabitants/day constitute the consumption of beta2 agonists and 2.66-3.69 DDD/1000 inhabitants/day is the consumption of corticosteroids. In addition, it turns out that the consumption of beclometasone and the association Beta-2-mimetic-corticosteroids (salmeterol+fluticasone) based on HII data is superior to the consumption of this forms based on Import data, which cannot be true. This finding probably reflects fictive prescriptions and the entry of drugs by contraband. During some years of our study we notice that the consumption of Antiasthmatic drugs is higher than the morbidity level (cases/1000 inhabitants). Conclusions There is only a small increase in the national consumption of Anti-Asthmatic drugs during these years, but the values still remain very low in comparison with other countries. Less than 40 percent of the consumption of beta2 agonists is covered from the reimbursement scheme. In addition, it results that the scheme covers about 50 percent of antiasthmatic drugs consumption.