Drug A drug is a pharmaceutical agent, by any route of administration, for prevention, diagnosis, or treatment. Drugs mentioned in the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey are coded by national drug classification (NDC) code entry name, therapeutic class, generic name, ingredients, composition status, prescription status, and control status. For purposes of the Health Care in America: Trends in Utilization report, a specific drug or class of drugs was considered “mentioned” during a visit if it was recorded at least once on the patient record form. SOURCE: Health Care in America: Trends in Utilization Data on specific drug use are collected in three NCHS surveys: National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Data collection in the NAMCS and NHAMCS is from the medical record of the physician office or hospital outpatient department visit, rather than from the patient. Generic and/or brand name drugs are abstracted from the medical record, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs, immunizations, allergy shots, and anesthetics that were prescribed, ordered, supplied, administered, or continued during the visit. Prior to 1995, up to five drugs per visit could be reported on the Patient Record Form; in data years 1995 through 2002 up to six drugs could be reported. Data collection in the NHANES III and 1999–2000 NHANES was by questionnaire. Participants were asked whether they had taken a medication in the past month for which they needed a prescription. Those who answered ‘‘yes’’ were asked to produce the prescription medication containers for the interviewer. For each medication reported, the interviewer entered the product’s complete name from the container. If no container was available, the interviewer asked the participant to verbally report the name of the medication. In addition, participants were asked how long they had been taking the medication and the main reason for use. All reported medication names were converted to their standard generic ingredient name. For multi-ingredient products, the ingredients were listed in alphabetical order and counted as one drug (e.g., Tylenol #3 was listed as Acetaminophen; Codeine). No trade or proprietary names are provided on the data file. SOURCE: Health United States
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This page last reviewed
January 11, 2007
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