The development of palliative medicine in inpatient units in Germany has been impressive in the last years. As a first step of quality assurance, a core documentation form was developed in 1996. In 2001, 55 of the 83 palliative inpatient units in Germany and one unit each in Switzerland and Austria participated in the third phase of the evaluation of the core documentation. A total of 1304 patients were documented consecutively in the 57 units for a period of up to three months. This study investigates the frequency of drugs used in palliative care units in Germany. During inpatient treatment, the most common drug classes were strong opioids (68% of the patients), nonopioids (59%), corticosteroids (32%), laxatives (31%), antiemetics (27%), gastric protection agents (24%), neuroleptics (19%), sedatives/anxiolytics (18%), antidepressants (16%) and diuretics (15%). These ten drug classes made up for 72% of all prescriptions in the palliative care units. The substances used most frequently were dipyrone (47% of the patients), morphine (42%), fentanyl (28%), dexamethasone (27%), metoclopramide (21%), sodium picosulfate (15%), haloperidol (13%), pantoprazole (11%), macrogol (11%), amtriptyline (11%), furosemide (10%), omeprazole (9%), lactulose (8%), rofecoxib (8%) and lorazepam (7%). The 15 most commonly used drugs accounted for 54% of the prescriptions in the palliative care units in Germany. Drug treatment was related to sex, age and functional status of the patients. Patients who died in a palliative care unit had received significantly more frequent doses of neuroleptics (P < 0.001), corticosteroids (P < 0.001), sedatives/anxiolytics (P < 0.001) and strong opioids (P < 0.001). This study is the first representative and systematic evaluation of drug treatment in palliative care units in a European country. Many of the 'top 15' drugs were drugs included in the list of essential drugs of the World Health Organisation though availability and cultural differences have an effect on the use of drugs, e.g., the high usage of dipyrone in Germany. Age and sex-related differences in drug therapy were seen, and more research is needed to recognize possible undertreatment of symptoms in subgroups of patients, e.g., treatment of depression in older or male patients.