Half Of Americans Are Taking Prescription Meds
18 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // September 3rd, 2010 // 7:41 am
More than 48 percent of all Americans took at least one prescription drug each month in 2008, which amounts to a 10 percent increase over the previous decade, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the use of multiple prescription meds rose by 20 percent, while the use of five of more drugs increased by 70 percent.
In fact, one out of every five Americans was using five or more drugs by 2008, and one out of every five children used at least one prescription med compared with nine out of 10 adults aged 60 and over. Children up to age 11 were using penicillin and drugs for asthma and allergies, while adolescents were taking meds for asthma, depression and ADD (please click on this link) to see the charts.
Consequently, US spending for prescription drugs more than doubled between 1998 and 2008 to $234.1 billion. The CDC notes, however, that the increasing use of multiple drugs by older Americans “is a continuing challenge that may contribute to adverse drug events, medication-compliance issues and increased health-care costs.”
A few other nuggets: Women were more likely to use prescription drugs than men. People with a regular place to visit for health care were 2.7 times as likely to have used pescription drugs than those without a regular place for health care. And people with health insurance were almost twice as likely to have used at least one prescription med than those without health insurance coverage. Among people with health insurance, those having a prescription drug benefit were 22 more likely to use prescription drugs.
Frank Giramonti
It’s not clear what’s the point from this piece? Is this because of undo influence of the pharmaceutical industry on prescibers, or is this because of better diagnostics and assessments? Or is it because americans are more obese, more likely to have diabetes…?
The Rock
Shouldn’t this increase in drug utilization results in less hospitalizations? Obviously that’s not the case. Where is the return on investment?
pharmavet two
fire the donut eating, gucci wearing reps and TRx will fall pronto
Ed Silverman
Hi Frank,
Thanks for the note and you asked a good question. The CDC, however, didn’t offer much by way of explanation, so we’re left to fend for ourselves.
Toward that end, I suppose the data can be interpreted in different ways. Perhaps there was ‘undue’ influence - witness the debate over ADD/ADHD meds and antidepressants that are prescribed youngsters. Or maybe there are better diagnostics, as you suggest, for some maladies.
In any event, I chose to run with this because I thought it was better to chew on it, so to speak, than not.
Regards
ed
pharmavet
As far as young people go, let’s ask a more fundamental question: Why is it that surveys consistently show that one out of every five matriculating college freshman has a serious, diagnosable mental illness that probably requires some form of medication? Equally serious: Why are parents sending care packages to their college kids that include bags of Adderall to help them stay up all night for days on end to cram for exams? Call me old hat, but whatever happened to No-Doz and a strong pot of coffee?
Until we get to the root of why so many college age kids are mentally ill, the rate of Rx drug use will not go down.
Karl in FL
I’m sorry, but the graphic is so small it is unreadable. Enlarging the image renders it still unreadable.
Dave Mittman, PA
There is no one answer.
Many people believe that their HCP can write them a prescription and they will feel better.So they expect the magic Rx.
Prescribers have more differing treatments to prescribe for more diseases. There are more medication for almost every disease then there were 10 years ago.
As a prescriber, I can tell you that there was much more “in your face” marketing ten years ago then there is today.
The average American is more obese than ever before. Enough said.
Also he boomer generation is getting older which means there are more people than ever with chronic diseases that are treatable. It will be this way for another 15 years or so.
All of these are reasons that more people are on medicines.
Dave Mittman, PA
NJ
Justice in MI
re: the issue of college-age folks, I write as someone who’s been a college psych counselor (as well as faculty member) for almost 40 years.
Some surveys actually suggest much higher rates than what Vet suggests. In most cases, they are pharma-funded and/or put forward by NAMI or a NAMI-affiliate. The realities, I think, are very hard to know. And what is true for this age is true more generally.
There is no question that concern about “mental illness,” especially as it may impact academic performance, is fully tied in with why parents are sending Adderall care packages (a story I related here), encouraging their kids to try antidepressants, and so on. Good NEJM piece on this a few years ago. When is this rx’ing appropriate and useful and when isn’t it? We have much to learn.
Meanwhile, this: I’ve learned recently that illicit use of Adderall by _faculty_ is about as widespread as among students (from whom they are buying it).
Metabolize that.
pharmavet
Thanks, JiM. In the movie “Animal House”, Faber College English Professor Dave Jennings (Donald Sutherland) smokes weed with his students because it is more interesting than teaching Milton (”Paradise Lost” could be tough to read for some, I suppose). What excuse do today’s profs have for doing Adderall? Or, never having taken it, is it not a social drug, better to get buzzed on your own rather than with your students. Furthermore, if the profs are abusing these drugs, what’s to make of the concept of “in loco parentis”? Sounds like the concept itself has gone a bit “loco”.
Justice in MI
The profs are doing Adderall for the same reason the students are–because they think it “enhances performance,” and that–without it–they will not be to compete in our Darwinian, survivor island culture.
pharmavet
Thanks, JiM. I don’t suppose it would do any good to admonish students and colleagues of the long-term serious consequences of Adderall abuse, would it?
http://adhd.emedtv.com/adderall/adderall-abuse.html
Justice in MI
No, Vet, I don’t think so. I understand that many, maybe even most, of the students and faculty involved are themselves in healthcare professions or pre-professional programs.
Sad to say it, but short of very high profile speed-related disasters on campus, this will not change. And even then….
“Speed kills,” as we used to say. Well, we used to say a lot of things.
pharmavet
My favorite is the scrambled egg commercial showing “your brain on drugs”. The one saving grace from the chatter I hear is that by the time med students get into the clinics they begin to realize the potentially disastrous consequences that sleep deprivation has on patient care, and many of them smarten up. I guess that when it’s just you, your organic chem all nighter and your bag of dope, the only one you are hurting is you.
BTW, Adderall is a Schedule II Controlled Substance. Teacher passing drug to student might not only get him the boot but also land him in the Graybar Hotel. Also, Schedule II drugs must be shipped by Express mail; thus it would be considered drug smuggling under criminal law to ship a Controlled Substance across state lines.
pharmavet
JiM, here’s a recent article from the student newspaper of a well-respected university endorsing use of Adderall.
http://media.www.thejustice.org/media/storage/paper573/news/2005/11/22/Forum/In.Todays.Drug.Culture.Adderall.Ok.For.Cramming.Students-1112427.shtml#4
Justice in MI
Thanks, Vet. this happens to be a university I know very well.
What’s interesting–even slightly bizarre–is that the first 2/3 of the op ed don’t sound like an endorsement at all. And then suddenly the turn at the end.
Perhaps this is, indeed, a guy who has trouble staying focused.
Nathan
Back on the original topic, “The Rock” asks a good question: Where is the return on investment? I think the thing we have to come to grips with as a society is that there is likely no return on investment for any medical intervention. (at least not in the classical way we think of ROI) The ROI is simply a longer lifespan. Longer lifespans almost certainly will result ultimately in HIGHER medical costs — not lower. Think about a cancer drug, for instance. The drug “saves” a large hospital bill by avoiding surgery, extended hospitalization, etc. The patient comes home, lives another 5 years, then suffers a stroke and ends up in a nursing home for 10 years. Was there really any ROI on the cancer drug? Actually, there was probably a net HIGHER cost to society.
The end result is always death. We die one way or another. Drugs simply shift the cause of death and moment of death. I doubt that they really save us any money.
Obviously, I’m not arguing against drug treatment — I’m simply saying that you can’t measure the “good” of a treatment simply by ROI. Instead, it must be measured by the amount it enhances the quantity and/or quality of life.
yobo
5+ medications is known as polypharmacy. This type of shotgun treatment is not good, perhaps dangerous with a possible increase in drug-drug interactions and untoward effects on the patient.
Children on drugs? Perhaps this is the lack of discipline practiced by so many American parents. It has become easier to say that lille Johnny or Jane has “a problem” rather than I don’t discipline my kid.
Young adults on drugs? In the “old days” when your boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with you you went out with your other friends, had a drinks and corsed the guy oy girl out. Now it’s running off to a shrinks office for an antidepressant.
The drug copanies feed into this too by creating “new” diseases, especially those with a “mental” component. Ladies, how many major mental problems are now associated with your monthly period? It’s absured. Yes hormone levels go up and down and you become moody and it is inconvenient, but should you be taking drugs? And guys, what this “low T” stuff. Just a way of selling prescription testosterone supplement which is not without risk.
The lesson here is that we all need to step back and reassess what we’re doing to ourselves and our children. WE do not need all these drugs!
pharmavet®
yobo is correct. One of the most encouraging signs that I’ve seen lately is that due to the economy and higher employee co-pays, doctor visits are down 10-15% y/o. Hopefully this will be accompanied by less unnecessary prescribing.