That’s the subject of an attention-grabbing paper by Ho (2023).
Prescription drug use has reached historic highs in the US—a development linked to will increase in medicalization, institutional components regarding the well being care and pharmaceutical industries, and inhabitants ageing and rising burdens of continual illness. Regardless of the excessive and rising prevalence of use, no estimates exist of the whole variety of years Individuals can count on to spend taking prescribed drugs over their lifetimes. This examine offers the primary estimates of life course patterns of prescription drug use utilizing information from the 1996–2019 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys, the Human Mortality Database, and the Nationwide Middle for Well being Statistics. Newborns in 2019 might be anticipated to take prescribed drugs for roughly half their lives: 47.54 years for girls and 36.84 years for males. The variety of years people can count on to take 5 or extra medication elevated considerably. Individuals additionally skilled notably dramatic will increase in years spent taking statins, antihypertensives, and antidepressants. There are additionally necessary variations in prescription drug use by race and ethnicity: non-Hispanic Whites take essentially the most, Hispanics take the least, and non-Hispanic Blacks fall in between these extremes. Individuals are taking medication over a large and increasing swathe of the life course, a testomony to the centrality of prescribed drugs in Individuals’ lives right this moment.
Hat tip to Kevin Lewis.
