ORIGINAL REPORT Evolution of drug consumption in a sample of French workers since 1986: the ‘Drugs and Work’ study y O. Boeuf-Cazou MSc 1,2 * , M. Lapeyre-Mestre MD, PhD 1 , M. Niezborala MD 3 and J.L. Montastruc MD, PhD 1,2 1 Universite ´ de Toulouse, UPS, Unite ´ de Pharmacoe ´pide ´miologie EA3696, Faculte ´ de Me ´decine Purpan, 37 alle ´es Jules-Guesde, F-31000 Toulouse, France 2 Service de Pharmacologie Clinique, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, France 3 Service Me ´dical Interentreprises de Toulouse, 9 rue du Docteur-Delherm, 31200 Toulouse, France SUMMARY Purpose France is known to have a relatively high prescription rate for medicines. Few studies have investigated drug use among a healthy worker population. The aim of this study was to describe the changing patterns of drug use in French workers since 1986 and to evaluate the impact of programs developed to reduce drug consumption. Method A cross-sectional survey has been performed every 10 years since 1986 among workers from the Toulouse metropolitan area (Southwestern, France) using an anonymous questionnaire given to workers during their compulsory annual medical visit. Results of the 2006 survey (2213 workers) were compared to those obtained in 1986 and 1996. A multivariate analysis was performed to investigate factors associated to the modification of drug use with time. Results During the last ten years, prevalence of overall drug consumption decreased (40.7% in 2006 vs. 46.7% in 1996, p < 0.001) in contrast to the increase observed between 1986 and 1996. Since 1986, patterns of drug use have been modified with a decrease in anti- infectious (OR ¼ 0.24) digestive (OR ¼ 0.54), psychotropic (OR ¼ 0.54), endocrine (OR ¼ 0.57) and cardiotropic (OR ¼ 0.68) drug use. In contrast, there was a significant increase in musculosqueletic (OR ¼ 2.16) drug use. Whatever the period, overall drug consumption was related to age, gender or extraprofessional problems. Conclusions This study illustrates the changing patterns of drug use in a population of workers during the last 20 years and underlines the importance of awareness raising campaigns on prescription patterns. Copyright # 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. key words — drug use patterns; workers; socio-professional category; cross-sectional survey Received 22 July 2008; Revised 3 November 2008; Accepted 16 December 2008 INTRODUCTION For several years, drug utilization studies have been identified as a major source of interest in pharmacoe- pidemiology. 1,2 This kind of work enables the tracking of drug consumption in relation to the development and marketing of new agents, the influence of medical and non-medical factors. Thus, drugs are no longer just medical items, but are also consumer items in a market. 3,4 Many studies have underscored the high level of drug consumption in France. 5 In a recent assessment of drug consumption in five European countries, France yet again came first. 6 This study underlined the importance of taking into consideration the pharma- cotherapeutic class when estimating drug consump- tion. The growth domestic product (GDP) of a country is one of the ways of measuring drug consumption. In 2003, spending on pharmaceutical products represented 2.11% of the GDP in France versus 1.86% in Italy or 1.62% in Germany or 1.22% in the United Kingdom. 6 In 1998, the National Drug Observatory in France underlined the high consumption of anti-infectious and anti-depressant drugs, which were particularly harmful when the prescription was inadequate. 7,8 These data pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety 2009; 18: 335–343 Published online 29 January 2009 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/pds.1713 * Correspondence to: O. Boeuf-Cazou, Laboratoire de Pharmacologie Me ´dicale et Clinique, Faculte ´ de Me ´decine, 37 alle ´es Jules-Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France. E-mail: boeuf@cict.fr y No conflict of interest was declared. Copyright # 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.