Data Resource Profile: The Danish National Prescription Registry

Abstract

Denmark has a long tradition of creating nationwide administrative and health registries. ^{1, 2} Examples include its registries on causes of death, ³ hospitalizations ⁴ and cancer, ⁵ and on socioeconomic parameters such as income ⁶ and education. ⁷ A registry central to Danish pharmacoepidemiology is the Register of Medicinal Product Statistics, established in 1994. This registry includes data on all drugs sold in primary care or purchased for use in Danish hospitals. Whereas aggregate data on gross sales of drugs are freely available online [www.medstat.dk], ⁸ individual-level data on prescriptions filled by Danish residents at community pharmacies are available as an independent sub-registry—the National Prescription Registry (NPR). ⁹ NPR data have been available to researchers through Statistics Denmark since 2003, and more recently also through the Danish Health Data Authority. Given these recent changes in data access and the need to evaluate the Registry’s strengths and limitations, this data resource profile provides a review of the NPR, with emphasis on its role in research.