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Hay Fever: Drugs

Answer

Information on the number, age and sex of patients prescribed a medicine and the indication for which a medicine was prescribed, is not collected centrally. The numbers of prescription items for medicines that can be used in the treatment of hay fever prescribed in England and dispensed in the community in the United Kingdom by strategic health authority (SHA) are shown in the following tables.Antihistamines (British National Formulary (BNF) paragraph 3.4.1) are the main treatment for hay fever but topical nasal steroids (BNF paragraph 12.2.1) and other anti- inflammatory preparations for eye problems (BNF paragraph 11.4.2) are also used. It is not possible to know with certainty whether an item was prescribed to treat hay fever and all products included in these figures have indications other than the treatment of hay fever as follows.

Prescription items for antihistamines prescribed in England and dispensed in the community in the UK, by SHA, July 2006-10
Thousand
SHA	July-December 2006¹	2007	2008	2009	2010
East Midlands	377.3	849.4	904.4	973.9	1,037.5
East of England	475.8	1,047.7	1,103.3	1,186.9	1,250.2
London	553.6	1,322.9	1,375.3	1,489.8	1,569.7
North East	236.3	504.7	538.9	578.0	615.3
North West	651.2	1,386.8	1,453.3	1,537.8	1,614.2
South Central	292.1	661.1	683.0	722.4	751.3
South East Coast	304.8	674.6	703.7	745.6	783.2
South West	371.5	822.7	868.6	920.6	971.8
West Midlands	444.7	991.7	1,037.1	1,107.0	1,165.2
Yorkshire and the Humber	483.4	1,036.4	1,086.6	1,168.7	1,234.5
Unidentified prescribing²	5.4	5.7	10.1	6.2	13.3
Total³, 4	9,088.6	9,303.6	9,764.3	10,436.9	11,006.2

Prescription items for topical nasal steroids prescribed in England and dispensed in the community in the UK, by SHA, July 2006-10
Thousand
SHA	July-December 2006¹	2007	2008	2009	2010
East Midlands	204.5	463.4	500.1	528.2	559.1
East of England	264.1	591.4	631.7	664.3	700.2
London	260.2	634.6	673.3	716.7	751.3
North East	109.3	237.3	254.2	266.3	281.6
North West	314.9	696.8	738.4	786.2	824,7
South Central	177.6	400.8	424.7	443.1	464.0
South East Coast	178.7	400.0	419.0	438.2	457.4
South West	225.8	505.0	536.1	560.7	589.3
West Midlands	232.6	527.7	564.0	598.6	633.1
Yorkshire and the Humber	221.2	488.9	524.3	558.6	587.2
Unidentified prescribing²	0.9	1.9	3.9	2.0	4.2
Total³, 4	4,759.7	4,947.8	5,269.7	5,563.0	5,852.1

Prescription items for other anti-inflammatory preparations for eye problems prescribed in England and dispensed in the community in the UK, by SHA, July 2006-10
Thousand
SHA	July-December 2006¹	2007	2008	2009	2010
East Midlands	51.1	132.9	144.3	149.2	148.7
East of England	62.9	160.4	169.7	174.2	171.3
London	107.7	301.6	325.8	340.4	341.2
North East	28.0	62.8	67.1	69.6	69.9
North West	82.5	196.5	208.2	214.9	209.4
South Central	39.1	105.2	111.6	114.1	113.1
South East Coast	38.8	98.7	104.5	107.2	104.8
South West	47.0	122.3	129.7	133.1	130.2
West Midlands	68.6	174.0	187.4	194.4	194.0
Yorkshire and the Humber	59.7	144.5	154.5	163.2	159.8
Unidentified prescribing²	0.5	0.8	1.8	1.0	2.0
Total³, 4	1,531.3	1,499.7	1,604.8	1,661.1	1,644.4
¹ SHAs were reorganised in July 2006, comparable data are not available for January-June 2006
² 'Unidentified prescribing' is prescribing which cannot be attributed to an SHA
³ Figures may not sum due to rounding
4 England total for 2006 relates to full year January-December dispensing
Source:
Prescribing Analysis and Cost Tool (PACT) system

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

45658; 525 c77-80W

Session

2010-12

Registered interest declared

Yes

Subjects

Drugs Hay fever

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk