The environmental impact of inhaler replacement: A carbon footprint and economic calculation of the National Database of Health Insurance Claims in Japan.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Drugs are a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from healthcare systems. Pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs) have raised concerns over their environmental impact due to GHG emissions. Evaluations and reduction strategies for GHGs have been primarily studied in Europe, but not in other regions, including Japan. Therefore, our objective was to calculate the carbon footprint of inhalers in Japan and evaluate their reduction scenarios.

Methods

Using the National Database of Health Insurance Claims, our analysis was conducted on inhaler prescriptions in Japan for the fiscal year of 2019. We calculated the number of inhalers used, GHG emissions, and total costs. Next, we simulated the environmental and economic impacts of three reduction scenarios: the

SUBMITTER: Nagasaki K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10357098 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature