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Gender differences in drug use in Sweden – a systematic analysis of changes taking place during a decade

Background: From a global perspective, Sweden upholds a high-quality healthcare provided on equal terms. Despite this, there are differences in health and living conditions as well as drug utilization between men and women.

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze how gender differences in drug use in Sweden have changed over the past 10 years. Specifically, to observe within which pharmacological groups large increases and decreases have taken place between 2011 and 2021.

Method: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted to compare the prevalence of drug use between women and men in 2011 and 2021. The study used data from the Swedish Prescribed drug register containing information about all dispensed prescription drugs.

Results: The gender differences differ depending on whether the differences are analyzed in relative or absolute terms. The largest sex difference in absolute numbers was antibiotics with a greater use were in women, while lipid lowering agents were showed the highest use among males. The largest increase in relative gender difference from 2011 to 2021 was for antimigrane preparations while the relative gender differences has decreased most substantially for mineral substances.

Conclusion: The study shows that gender differences still exist and have not decreased in the last 10 years. Some findings on gender differences could be explained using research on prevalence of diseases between the sexes, while some differences could not be justified using medical explanations. Unexplainable gender differences can be explained by normative structures that exist and affect healthcare in Swedish society.