The Homa Files

According to a new study from the Mayo Clinic …

Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug – up from 44% in 2000 … and more than half take more than one prescription drug..

Here are some details from the study …

Twenty percent of patients are on five or more prescription medications.

Antibiotics (17%), antidepressants (13%) and painkillers (13%) are most commonly prescribed.

The fourth most commonly prescribed drugs are used to lower lipids

“Often when people talk about health conditions they’re talking about chronic conditions such as heart disease or diabetes,” Dr. St. Sauver says. “However, the second most common prescription was for antidepressants — that suggests mental health is a huge issue and is something we should focus on. And the third most common drugs were painkillers, which is a bit concerning considering their addicting nature.”

Overall, women and older adults receive more prescriptions.

Antidepressants and painkillers are most common among young and middle-aged adults.

Women take more prescriptions than men across several drug groups.

Source: Mayo Clinic

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Tags: Mayo Clinic

This entry was posted on June 25, 2013 at 6:42 am and is filed under Prescription Drugs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.