2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A nationwide epidemiological study on sleep medicines prescribed for outpatients in Japan
| Project/Area Number |
16614015
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
睡眠学
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| Research Institution | National Institute of Public Health |
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Principal Investigator |
DOI Yuriko NIPH, Epidemiology, Chief, 疫学部社会疫学室, 室長 (70280758)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
OKAMOTO Etsuji NIPH, Management Sciences, Chief, 経営科学部経営管理室(研究情報センター併任), 室長 (90247974)
FUJITA Toshiharu NIPH, Epidemiology, Chief(by March 31^<st>,2006), 疫学部社会疫学室(平成18年3月まで), 室長 (30175575)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2004 – 2006
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| Keywords | sleep medicine / sedative-hypnotics / anxiolytics / antidepressants / sleep / health insurance claims / Survey of Medical Care Activities in Public Health Insurance |
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| Research Abstract |
The main objective of the present study was to describe sleep medications prescribed in office-based clinics or hospitals of Japan with respect to safety and effectiveness. This study specifically aimed to estimate the number of sleep medicines prescribed, the coexisting diseases with sleep medication prescriptions, and the sleep medication usage concomitant with other prescription drugs among outpatients in Japan. The data used came from the Survey of Medical Care Activities in Public Health Insurance, which was conducted in June, 2004-2006. The mostly prescribed sleep medicines were benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotics and anxiolytics, nonbenzodiazepine sedative-hypnotics, and SSRI or SNRI of antidepressants. However, long or ultra-long acting ones were less likely to prescribe. Not for primary insomnia but for physical and mental diseases, sleep medicines were simultaneously prescribed with other prescription drugs, some of which could cause insomnia symptoms. As the future research, an investigation is needed to examine the appropriate regimen of sleep medications prescribed from the viewpoints of pharmacotherapy as well as health economics.
For a comparison of sleep medicine prescriptions in Japan, the two sets of data provided by the US Centers of Diseases Prevention and Control, National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), were analyzed (a total of 116,727 prescriptions during the period of 2003-2004). The most used sleep medicine was zolpidem (4,860 thousands weighted estimations) in sedative-hypnotics, alprazolam (5,290 thousands) in anxiolytics, and paroxetine (5,910 thousands) in antidepressants. This analysis also suggested the high frequency of multiple medications among these drugs.
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Research Products
(12 results)
