[Drugs and general medicine. Study of the profile of prescriptions and requests of the patients].

744 prescriptions written by a general practitioner are analyzed. It emerges that out of 1759 drugs prescribed, 13.5% are considered to have been directly demanded by the patient. This demand, which approaches 30% in women over 65, chiefly relates to hypnotics and tranquillizers. It involves a rise of 13% in pharmaceutical costs if the physician yields to the demands. In this study an average of 2.4 drugs were given per prescription and the average prescription cost is 47.65 Swiss francs. The scope of such demand should be taken into consideration more often when studying drug consumption in general and prescribing patterns in particular.