Pharma Spending Rates In Japan

Japanese outpatients aged 70 or older spent half their health carebudget on drugs in 1995, says a Ministry of Health and Welfare report. This is 76% higher than the figure for outpatients under 14 years old, which came to 28.4%.

For all age groups, the average spent on drugs in relation to total health care spending was 44.1%, up 1.4% on 1994. The percentages were higher for the elderly; for those up to age 69 it was 40.9%, while for those 70 or older it was 49.7%.

Outpatients were prescribed 3.32 different medicines on average, up from 3.25 in 1994. Older patients received an average of four types of medicine, compared to 3.98 in 1994. 11.2% of elderly outpatients were prescribed more than seven kinds of drugs and medicines. The tendency to overprescribe grew, raising national health spending. A Ministry spokesman said the cost of supplying drugs was increasing as more people suffered from chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, "due to the greying of society."