Reporting in JAMA, Elizabeth Kantor, an epidemiologist from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, says that the uptick in prescription drug use “is really not surprising”.
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Dr. Kantor: We know that use of prescription drugs represents a major expenditure in the United States and research suggests that use of prescriptions has increased. Blood pressure drugs can reduce blood pressure too much, causing fainting and falling, which can lead to a broken hip in older people, he said.
“When we look at the 10 most commonly used drugs in 2011-2012”, Kantor said, “most of these drugs are taken for conditions associated with cardiovascular disease, as well as the factors contributing to cardiovascular disease, such as obesity”. The most commonly used individual drug was simvastatin, a medication used to treat high cholesterol. Just two percent took it in 1999-2000.
Kantor’s team analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to compare prescription drug use in the years 1999-2000 and 2011-2012. It is important to document patterns of prescription drug use to inform both clinical practice and research, according to background information in the article.
Certain classes of drugs may be prescribed more due to the availability of a generic option that would typically cost less than brand-name medicine.
-Among 18 types of drugs used by more than 2.5 percent of Americans, use increased for 11 medication types.
“The increase in use of prescription medications over time is good for those who need them, and bad for those who don’t”, said Walid Gellad, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh who was not involved in the study.
The authors say use among young adults stayed relatively stable over this period, while use among Americans over the age of 40 rose 20 percent. A dozen years earlier, 51% of adults filled at least one prescription and 8% filled at least five, federal survey data show. With regard to individual conditions, medications used for hypertension increased from 20 to 27 percent, drugs used to treat hyperlipidemia increased from 7 percent to 17 percent, and the use of antidepressants rose from 7 percent to 13 percent. Use of all except atorvastatin increased over the study period.
After Zocor, the top 10 included lisinopril (Prinivil), levothyroxine (Levothroid), metoprolol (Lopressor), metformin (Fortamet), hydrochlorothiazide (Aquazide H), omeprazole (Prilosec), amlodipine (Norvasc), atorvastatin (Lipitor), and albuterol (Ventolin, Proventil).
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Katz said a healthy lifestyle can prevent most of the chronic diseases these drugs treat. “Big Food” and “Big Pharma” are the winners – we and our families, the losers”, he said.
