Reasons for allowing and refusing generic substitution and factors determining the choice of an interchangeable prescription medicine: a survey among pharmacy customers in Finland

Table 2 Differences in characteristics as regards respondents’ experience with GS (N=1043)

Characteristic	Respondents who had only allowed GS		Respondents who had only refused GS		Respondents who had both allowed and refused GS		Respondents who had no experience with GS		p-value^a
Characteristic	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	p-value^a
All (n=1020^b)	420	41.2	61	6.0	489	47.9	50	4.9
Gender (n=1016^c)
Male	114	27.3	21	34.4	142	29.1	20	40.0	0.228
Female	303	72.7	40	65.6	346	70.9	30	60.0	0.228
Age in years (n=984^c)
18–34	39	9.5	3	5.4	26	5.5	7	14.6	0.033
35–59	108	26.3	13	23.2	148	31.6	10	20.8	0.151
60–74	189	46.0	31	55.4	208	44.3	18	37.5	0.294
≥ 75	75	18.2	9	16.1	87	18.6	13	27.1	0.469
Area of residence (n=1007^c)
Southern Finland	82	19.9	5	8.5	88	18.1	6	12.0	0.121
Southwestern Finland	38	9.2	1	1.7	35	7.2	3	6.0	0.200
Western and Central Finland	98	23.7	17	28.8	112	23.1	19	38.0	0.103
Eastern Finland	69	16.7	11	18.6	99	20.4	9	18.0	0.566
Northern Finland	98	23.7	14	23.7	112	23.1	10	20.0	0.948
Lapland	28	6.8	11	18.6	39	8.0	3	6.0	0.035
Education (n=1005^c)
Basic education qualification	98	23.7	16	26.2	82	17.0	16	32.0	0.012
Vocational upper secondary qualification or vocational diploma	146	35.4	18	29.5	210	43.7	17	34.0	0.023
Matriculation examination	54	13.1	8	13.1	48	10.0	6	12.0	0.520
Lower university degree	67	16.2	7	11.5	64	13.3	6	12.0	0.524
Higher university degree	48	11.6	12	19.7	77	16.0	5	10.0	0.122
Current use of prescription medicines (n=1000^c)
Regularly	247	60.2	40	66.7	273	56.6	32	66.7	0.038
Temporarily	36	8.8	10	16.7	47	9.8	9	18.8	0.056
Both regularly and temporarily	127	31.0	10	16.7	162	33.6	7	14.6	0.004

^aChi-square test and Fisher’s exact test; statistically significant p-values (p < 0.05) are in bold. ^bSome of the respondents did not answer the questions concerning their experience with allowing or refusing GS. ^cSome of the respondents did not report their gender, age, area of residence, education or use of prescription medicines

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