lääketarve

Lääketarve is a Finnish term that refers to the need or demand for medicines. In clinical practice, lääketarve describes the necessity for pharmacotherapy to treat a patient's condition, relieve symptoms, prevent progression, or maintain quality of life. The assessment combines diagnostic findings, disease severity, comorbidities, patient preferences, and evidence-based guidelines.

At the population level, lääketarve is used in health-system planning and pharmaceutical procurement to estimate demand, allocate budgets, and ensure continuity of supply; it is influenced by disease burden, demographic structure, seasonal patterns, and prescribing guidelines. The concept is distinct from related ideas such as drug availability (lääkkeiden saatavuus) and drug safety (lääketurvallisuus).

It interacts with issues of adherence, timely access, and polypharmacy, particularly in older adults. Ethical considerations arise in resource-limited settings when prioritizing medications for groups with the greatest need, or for essential medicines identified by national lists.

Measurement approaches include clinical indicators such as prescription rates aligned with guidelines, medication possession ratios, and pharmacoepidemiological models projecting demand. In policy, lääketarve informs reimbursement decisions, formulary design, and stock management for pharmacies and hospitals. The term is commonly used in Finnish healthcare discussions and policy documents to describe both individual treatment needs and system-wide pharmaceutical requirements.