Drug Utilization by Men and Women: Why the Differences?

Women take more medication than men but the reason for this is not understood. This study will examine determinants of this difference in a large population-based database. Data are from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (N = 63000), a statistical sample of the Canadian population, which includes information on all drug products taken in the past two days and other variables. Women were twice as likely (OR =2.0) as men to take any drug product and while women comprised 51% of the population, they consumed 63.2% of drug products. This difference persisted for most drug classes, and was, paradoxically, the greatest where drug use was the least, for example, for the youngest age group, with the fewest physician visits. Factors affecting drug use may be grouped into physiological, lifestyle, healthcare, and other domains, all of which affect men and women differently. In spite of these differences, drug development research in the past was conducted largely on men and assumed to be universalizable to women. To explain differences between men and women, more gender-specific research is needed with the understanding that differences between men and women may be appropriate.