4839.0.55.001 - Health Services: Patient Experiences in Australia, 2009  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 20/10/2011   
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Contents >> General practitioners and medical specialists >> Prescriptions for medication

PRESCRIPTIONS FOR MEDICATION

Of people aged 15 years and over who had visited a GP in the past 12 months, 81% (11.3 million people) had received a prescription for medication.

For the most part, women had received more prescriptions for medication than men. This was particularly noticeable in the 15-24 year age group (77% of women and 64% of men) and the 45-54 year age group (83% of women compared with 71% of men). The proportion of people who had been prescribed medication generally increased with age for both sexes, reaching 91% for men and 97% for women aged 75 years and over.

3.4 Received prescription for medication (a), by Age

(See Table 3.2 for more detail)

People who assessed their general health as fair or poor reported higher rates of receiving a prescription (94%, compared with 79% of people who rated their health as excellent, very good or good) (see Table 3.1).







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