Fig. 4

Average number of DDD per insured person. Figure 4 shows the average (+/− SD) of DDD per insured person per age group per year [24]. The mean DDD per day was inserted at the bottom of the bars for each age group. The data stemmed from the German drug prescription reports for the years 2001–2017. The defined age groups of the drug prescription reports were adapted for this analysis since they did not match the defined age groups of the ADR database analysis. Defined daily dose (DDD): The DDD is based on the amount of active substances or medicinal product that should typically be used for the main indication per day. The DDD does not necessarily reflect the recommended or actual administered dose of a drug substance or medicinal product. It mainly provides a technical means of measurement and comparison [24]