THE INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHARMACEUTICAL CONSUMPTION AND HEALTH STATUS

Abstract

It is thought that it is important to reveal the contribution of pharmaceutical consumption to health outcomes because the share of pharmaceutical expenditures in health expenditures is quite high and the debate about controlling healthcare costs. The study aims to examine the relationship between pharmaceutical consumption and the health status of EFPIA member countries with canonical correlation analysis. It was found that the health status of the EFPIA member countries and their pharmaceutical consumption were strongly correlated (rc=75.9). According to canonical cross loadings, the variable of life expectancy at birth (0.846), which has the strongest relationship with its own set, also establishes the strongest relationship with pharmaceutical consumption (0.642). The pharmaceutical consumption dataset remarkably correlates with antidepressant use and lipid use, respectively. According to canonical cross loadings, antidepressant use, which had the strongest association with its own set, had the strongest association with the health status dataset (0.592). This research provides evidence that pharmaceutical consumption and the health status of EFPIA member countries are positive associated. It is thought that the potential of pharmaceutical-related interventions can be exploited as a way to improve the health status.