[Prescription profile in French speaking Switzerland and in the Tessin. Analysis of 2006 medical prescriptions].

Analysis of 2006 prescriptions given to 641 unselected patients by 360 doctors in the French- and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland provides a wealth of information on prescription trends and the cost of medicine. The patients ordinarily received medication belonging to several therapeutic groups, usually 2 or 3 but up to 9 different groups. Each prescription averaged 2.08 drugs with a mean cost of 18.90 Swiss francs. The price varied considerably according to the group of drugs. Those related to the cardiovascular system were the most expensive closely followed by antibiotics, while the ophthalmological prescriptions were the least expensive. Hydergine is the most-sold drug in Switzerland, followed by Bactrim; however, if the various benzodiazepines were grouped together their sale would exceed the others. There are 62 different drugs for rheumatic conditions and 47 penicillins in Switzerland. The abundance of drugs and the prescription of medication with dubious action contribute to the inflationary cost of illness. For any given drug there is a striking parallelism between the number of pages publicizing it in 4 medical journals and total sales. This clearly demonstrates the influence of advertising on prescription trends. Doctors should be aware of this fact and rely on more objective sources of their information about drugs.