Term: Number of Different Types of Drugs Dispensed per User

Glossary Definition

Last Updated: 2013-10-30

Definition:

This is the average number of different types of drugs prescribed to each resident who had at least one prescription in the year. Each pharmaceutical agent that falls under a different fourth-level Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) class is counted as a new drug for each resident. A person could have several prescriptions for drugs in the same fourth– level ATC class, but this would only count as one drug type in that year. This essentially separates drugs used for different health problems. and avoids double-counting prescriptions for drugs in the same group. Nearly all prescriptions dispensed from community–based pharmacies across the province were included.

Exclusions:

NOTE: The terms "Number of Different Drugs" (Fransoo et al., 2005) and "Number of Different Prescribed Drugs" (Chartier et al., 2015) were used with essentially the same definition above.

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