Spotlight on unnecessary medication

Slightly elevated cholesterol, reduced bone density, ADHD and an overactive bladder: just a few of a large number of conditions and diagnoses that have doctors reaching for their prescription pads with ever greater frequency. This is a concern for the Danish Health and Medicines Authority, which now wants to take up the fight against unnecessary use of medication.

“We’re concerned about whether the right medication is being given to the right patients. In some areas, there is perhaps also a change in the perception of what constitutes an illness and what constitutes an illness that requires treatment,” Søren Brostrøm, Head of Division at the Danish Health and Medicines Authority, told DR News.

The right tablet in the right mouth

“The Danish Health and Medicines Authority advises doctors on the use of medication. In the past, the focus has been on helping doctors to choose the right medicine for the right patient. But now the Authority wants to add a new focus,” said Brostrøm.

“We want to ensure that the right tablet goes in the right mouth at the right price. Previously, we’ve perhaps focused too much on getting the right tablet. So now we also want to focus on whether it’s the right mouth: whether or not the patient should actually be given tablets,” he explained.

Weak diagnoses

“Increasingly, medication is being given to people who are not actually ill, but who have a risk factor such as slightly elevated blood pressure. New syndromes have also appeared – such as ADHD – with a somewhat non-specifically defined diagnosis where it’s difficult to find the boundary for when medication should be prescribed,” continued Brostrøm.

“And then there are normal biological phenomena such as the menopause, which can be turned into an illness by referring to it as hormone deficiency and treating it with hormone replacement therapy,” concluded Brostrøm.

It is these areas in particular where the Danish Health and Medicines Authority is concerned that the boundary for prescribing medication has moved. The Authority therefore wants to help doctors judge when they can avoid prescribing medication, partly by drawing up recommendations and clinical guidelines.