Source: DIA Daily

Bloomberg News (9/3, Olmos) reports, “Almost half of Americans took at least one prescription drug per month in 2008, an increase of 10 percent over the past decade,” according to a CDC survey released Thursday. The survey also found that one “of every five children ages 11 or younger took at least one medication each month in 2008, led by asthma and allergy treatments,” and for those “60 or older, 37 percent used five or more prescriptions per month.” In terms of the most common individual drugs, for “adults ages 20 to 59, antidepressants, including Eli Lilly & Co.’s Cymbalta [duloxetine] and Pfizer Inc.’s Zoloft [sertraline], were the most- used drugs,” while cholesterol-lowering “medications, including Pfizer Inc.’s Lipitor [atorvastatin] and AstraZeneca Plc’s Crestor [rosuvastatin], were the most common drugs taken by people ages 60 and over, with 45 percent of those in that age group on such therapies.”

The Wall Street Journal (9/2, Hobson) “Health Blog” added that the report says excessive prescribing is also a safety risk for elderly Americans and may contribute to adverse drug events, medication compliance issues and increased costs.

HealthDay (9/2, Preidt) noted that the study was an “analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.”

MedPage Today (9/3, Fiore) adds that in an interview, Charles F. Dillon, MD, PhD, of the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, said the 10-year increase was significant and translates to “millions of people.” WebMD (9/2, Hendrick) and CNN’s (9/2, Young) “Paging Dr. Gupta” blog also covered the story.