Drugs in the Spanish health system.

This paper presents data on drug consumption in Spain, analyzed from a cultural as well as from a medical point of view. The overuse of medicines is an economic rather than a pharmaceutical problem, and the main characteristic of drug use in Spain seems to be the misuse of pharmacologic therapeutic strategies. Four factors which influence the quantity and quality of drug consumption are identified and analyzed: 1) the structure of the primary health care system, 2) general requirements for marketing drugs and the characteristics of pharmaceutical supply, 3) information about drugs used by health professionals, and 4) development and activities--pre-graduate teaching and continuing education--in the field of clinical pharmacology. Some recent activities in this area are also presented. These are intended as a contribution to the development of clinical pharmacology with the aim of turning benefit-risk ratios to the side of the benefit, through the promotion of a more rational drug therapy.