Análisis comparativo de indicadores en los estudios de utilización de medicamentos

backgrounds: studies of drug use (sdu) require precise and universally accepted indicators to be able to establish comparisons of their results among regions and/or countries as well as along the time in a certain area. objective: to compare two indicators widely used in sdu: the defined daily dose (ddd) and the sale units (packs). design: longitudinal retrospective study. material and methods: we measure the consumption of antibiotics for systemic use in the county of valladolid in the period 1996-2000 through the data provided by ims (international marketing services), establishing this consumption in ddd/1,000 inhabitants/day and in packs/1,000 inhabitants/year. results: the data obtained by the two systems of indicators are different, on the one hand the interanual study in ddd shows an increment in the use of antibiotics between 1996 and 1999, while when measuring it in packs the obtained curve is falling during the whole period. on the other hand the classification of the subgroups of antibiotics by importance consumption was altered. conclusions: the results in the sdu are affected according to the measure unit elected. in our opinion the ddd presents remarkable advantages regarding the measure in packs.