Objective: To analyze the trend of antipsychotic drug consumption in Spain from 1985 to 2000, and the impact of atypical antipsychotics on the overall consumption and on clozapine use.
Methods: Data on antipsychotic consumption were drawn from the ECOM database of the Spanish Ministry of Health, which contains the retail community pharmacies sales of medicinal products reimbursed by the National Health System. Data are presented as defined daily doses (DDDs) per 1000 inhabitants per day, for each year. To evaluate the impact of atypical antipsychotics on clozapine use, data from the Spanish "Clozapine Monitoring Program" were analyzed. Consumption data from Nordic countries were obtained from national statistics.
Results: The use of antipsychotics in Spain increased progressively from 1.51 DDD/1000 inhabitants/d in 1985 to 5.73 DDD/1000 inhabitants/d in 2000. The pattern of use of individual drugs changed greatly over the study period. In 1985, haloperidol, fluphenazine and thioridazine, all typical antipsychotics, were the drugs most widely used, whereas in 2000, the three drugs most frequently used were risperidone, olanzapine and haloperidol. The introduction of olanzapine in December 1996 reduced the number of new treatments with clozapine to half. Antipsychotic use is still lower in Spain than in Nordic countries, despite the prevalence of schizophrenia being similar worldwide.
Conclusions: Antipsychotic agent use in Spain has increased progressively since 1985, reducing the differences between Spain and other European countries (Nordic countries). Substantial differences in the pattern of drug use from 1985 to 2000 have been observed.