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S/A 4071: Social/Cultural Aspects of Health and Illness:
Class 30: The Medical Industrial Complex 1:
* Medical-industrial complex= a large, growing network of private &
public corporations in the business of providing medical care, products,
supplies & products for profit (e.g. the pharmaceutical industry)
* The drug industry is a major player in Canadian health care, & drugs
are a major & growing component of health spending:
- 1995: an average of 8 prescriptions per Canadian
- 88% of Canadians have some coverage
- most expenditures on prescription drugs
- patent drugs make up less than 10% of drugs available but almost
46% of drug spending
* Demographic patterns:
- drugs frequently over-prescribed in Canada (e.g. antibiotics)
- between 5-23% of hospital admissions drug related
- inappropriate prescribing costs up to $1 billion annually
- the elderly & women particularly hard hit (the former due to bad
reactions to often unnecessary drugs, women to over-prescription
of sedatives & psychotropic drugs
- people over 65 comprise 12% of population but 40% of
prescription drug use (avg=13 prescriptions/year)
- danger increases of adverse drug interactions/ very costly
- multiple drug use associated with stress/ lack of social support
- all of this exacerbated by higher use of over the counter drugs
- drug use by elderly likely to continue growing due to aging
population, more doctors & more pharmacists
- females consistently heavier prescription drug users than men
- lower income groups spend more of income on prescription drugs
