More US adults are taking prescription drugs than ever before, fueling $12 billion in additional spending during 2006. The number of people with at least one prescription increased from 67 percent in 2000 to 74 percent in 2006, and the number of prescriptions per person rose to 14.3 from 10.8 in 2000 - a 32 perent jump, according to a new study by Express Scripts, the pharmacy benefits manager.

A few findings…

- The percentage of people with at least one scrip for a cholesterol pill more than doubled in all but four states;

- The percentage of people with at least one diabetes or blood pressure scrip and the number of scrips per person rose more than 75 percent each;

- Although the percentage of people with at least one GI scrip grew at only 20 percent, the number of scrips per person rose by 34 percent;

- The percentage of people with at least one antidepressant scrip grew by 33 percent, while number of scrips per person rose by 50.7 percent.

- The percentage of people with at least one scrip for a painkiller fell by one percentage point.

- Overall, the number of people with at least one estrogen prescription dropped by more than half.

Why so many more scrips? The PBM posits that greater awareness of health problems tied to obesity likely played a factor, along with updated treatment guidelines for cholesterol. Other factors may include greater compliance rates and more dual therapy, more screening, earlier initiation of drug treatment, and a greater propensity among docs to write a scrip instead of trying something else. A couple of exceptions - safety issues almost certainly dampened scrips for estrogen and painkillers. Think Prempro and Vioxx.

Here’s the complete report.