Drug-prescription in the five new federal lands--a comparison with the prescription of the old federal lands of Germany.

In the present study, the consumption of several drugs on the territories of the former GDR and FRG was compared using 200,000 prescriptions and the defined daily doses (DDD). Furthermore, for the two parts of Germany, the 20 most frequently prescribed drugs were evaluated. Calcium antagonists and the beta-blockers prevailed in East Germany, while cardiac glycosides, vasodilators, reserpin-containing antihypertensives, bronchodilators (beta-adrenoceptor agonists), neuroleptics, tricyclic antidepressants, antacids, H2-receptor blockers, chondroprotectives were used 1.5 to 5 times more frequently in West Germany. Because in East Germany, a shortage of drugs was no longer observed in 1991, several other reasons for the "over-prescription" of drugs for the patients in West Germany must be mentioned.