Levodopa use in Denmark: high levels in Greenland and the Faroe Islands |
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| Authors: | J de Pedro-Cuesta L Wermuth V Abraira L Stawiarz |
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| Institution: | Department of Applied Epidemiology, National Centre for Epidemiology, Carlos III Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain;Unit for Neuroepidemiology and Health Services Research, Division of Neurology, Huddinge Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Sweden;Department of Neurology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark;Methodology Unit, Subdirectorate of Research, Spanish Ministry of Health and Research Unit, "Ramon y Cajal" Hospital, Madrid, Spain |
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| Abstract: | Levodopa (LD) sales from wholesalers to pharmacies during the periods, 1977–1989 in Denmark, 1981–1989 in Greenland, and April 1988–May 1989 in Danish counties and the Faroe Islands, were evaluated using a reported method and a procedure expressly developed for assessment of random variation comparative levodopa use (LDU) measurements. The reference population for comparison of LDU was the Swedish from 1984. LDU diffusion had stabilized by 1989 in Denmark, but considerable annual increments of LD sales were still seen in Greenland in 1989. Crude LDU in Denmark and most Danish counties amounted to a level similar to that of Sweden. Adjustments for age and infant mortality rates, taken as an indicator of socioeconomic development, disclosed statistically significant twofold levels of LDU in the Faroe Islands and Greenland, and lowest LDU in urban regions. The social or biological factors underlying such differences in drug use remain unknown. |
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| Keywords: | drug use epidemiology etiology quality control Parkinson's disease therapy |
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