Hemminki E
Am J Hosp Pharm. 1982 Feb;39(2):325-9.
Two problems of measuring psychotropic drug use are described and illustrated using sales of psychotropic drugs in Finland and Norway. Classifying psychotropic drugs is a problem because the meaning of psychotropic drugs is not clear on a theoretical or practical level. In particular, the role of hidden psychotropic drugs--psychotropics included in combination products--is noted. Previous studies comparing the Nordic countries did not include combination products. Because a notable proportion of psychotropic substances sold in Finland were combination products, the inclusion of hidden psychotropic drugs affected the comparative levels of psychotropic drug use in Norway and Finland. Another problem in measuring psychotropic drug use is the unit of measurement. Traditional units of measurement, including defined daily dose (DDD), are discussed, and a new unit called the defined exposure dose (DED) is introduced. DED estimates the potential chemical exposure of the population to drugs. Sales of psychotropics in numbers of DDD/ and DED/ 1000 inhabitants/day in Finland and Norway from 1962 to 1978 were compared. Sales appeared to be much higher when DEDs were used. Irrespective of the unit used, sales were greater in Finland than Norway. Methods used to measure psychotropic drug use can affect conclusions drawn. The choice of unit of measurement should depend on the problem being studied, data source, and available resources. The concept of DED merits further investigation.
利用芬兰和挪威的精神药物销售情况，描述并举例说明了衡量精神药物使用的两个问题。对精神药物进行分类是一个问题，因为精神药物在理论或实践层面上的含义并不明确。特别指出了隐性精神药物（即复方制剂中所含的精神药物）的作用。以往比较北欧国家的研究未将复方制剂纳入其中。由于芬兰销售的精神药物中有相当一部分是复方制剂，因此纳入隐性精神药物影响了挪威和芬兰精神药物使用的比较水平。衡量精神药物使用的另一个问题是计量单位。讨论了包括限定日剂量（DDD）在内的传统计量单位，并引入了一个名为限定暴露剂量（DED）的新单位。DED估计人群对药物的潜在化学暴露量。比较了1962年至1978年芬兰和挪威以DDD/和DED/每千居民/天为单位的精神药物销售量。使用DED时，销售量似乎要高得多。无论使用何种单位，芬兰的销售量都高于挪威。用于衡量精神药物使用的方法会影响得出的结论。计量单位的选择应取决于所研究的问题、数据来源和可用资源。DED这一概念值得进一步研究。
