Investigation of vitamin utilization in primary care in Istanbul

Background Vitamins which are necessary for maintaining health and preventing some medical conditions can be used upon physician recommendation or as self-medication for supplemental purposes. In this study, we aimed to examine the usage of vitamins in primary care prescriptions. Methods Prescriptions of 1431 family physicians in 2016 selected by systematic sampling in Istanbul were examined in this cross-sectional study (n = 5,936,852). Among these vitamins, the ones containing ATC code of A11 were determined, where the usage of these drugs and drug groups were analyzed in terms of age, sex, diagnosis, and concurrent usage with other medicines. Results We identified vitamins in 8.3% of all prescriptions. In vitamin-containing prescriptions, 71.4% of them were written for women and 32.3% of them were written for people aged between 45-65 (mean age: 47.0 ± 1.38 years). Vitamins comprised 34.9% of all drugs in those prescriptions. The most common vitamins are vitamin D and analogues (41.3%), vitamin B1, plain and in combination with Vitamin B6 and B12 (37.4%), and multivitamin (20.9%). The most common drugs co-prescribed with vitamins were alimentary tract and metabolism (20.9%) and blood and blood forming organs (13.3%) drugs. Among the prescriptions with single diagnosis (n = 131,194), we mostly encountered vitamin D deficiency (23.1%) as the indication. Vitamin D analogues were found to be significantly likely to be prescribed for women (44.4%) than men (32.7%, p < 0.001) and vitamin B and its combinations were more likely to be written for men compared to that in women (43.3% vs. 35.2%, respectively; p < 0.001). Conclusions The majority of vitamins prescribed in primary care seem to contain D and B vitamins, which are more likely to be prescribed for women and middle-aged population. This research is expected to shed light on future studies which aim to understand overall consumption of vitamins in different settings. Key messages The vitamins appear to be mostly prescribed for women and middle-aged people. The majority of vitamins prescribed in primary care seem to constitute D and B vitamins.