NZ ranks last in study of medical drug use

New Zealand is ranked last among 14 developed countries in a comparison of medical drug use.

The British study showed New Zealand had the lowest use of drugs for dementia, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and a degenerative eye problem called wet AMD.

New Zealand was ranked third for its use of heart-attack medication and seventh for antipsychotics and cholesterol-lowering statins.

New Zealand was ranked last for its use of selected medicines, with the United States first, Australia fifth and Britain eighth.

The report's author, Professor Mike Richards, said there was no consensus on optimum levels of drug usage.

"For some disease areas, high usage may be a sign of weaknesses at other points in the care pathway, and low usage a sign of effective disease prevention," he said. "Equally, for others, low usage may imply that patients' needs are not being met effectively, and high usage may imply that patients are receiving the best treatment."

Arthritis New Zealand chief executive Sandra Kirby said Kiwis deserved First World, not Third World access to medication.

About 40,000 Kiwis suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, which affected women three times more than men.

"Coming last in this study should be the wake-up call the Government needs to start investing in more medicines being made available within New Zealand to treat debilitating diseases like arthritis," she said.

"Over 25,000 New Zealanders will not work in 2010 due to arthritis, costing around $1.48 billion in lost productivity."

Health Minister Tony Ryall said the Government had invested an extra $60 million in medicines.

- © Fairfax NZ News