The use of medication and alcohol among the Spanish population.

The 1993 Spanish National Health Survey data were used to estimate how frequently both medication and alcohol were used among 21,084 people over 16 years of age. A total of 47.1% of the population, especially women and an increasingly older section, had taken some kind of medication during the previous fortnight. A total of 9.8% of the population took medication and alcohol together. This was more frequently observed among men than among women, and especially so among the older age groups. These data reveal that concomitant alcohol and medication use is frequent among the Spanish population, and suggest a need to devote much more attention to this potential problem.