US Adults Using More Drugs, and More Use Multiple Drugs
Use of prescription drugs is rising, and the number of US adults who take multiple drugs is rising even faster, according to a study that today appeared in JAMA. The study led by Elizabeth Kantor, PhD, MPH, formerly of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, sought to examine prescription drug use across the population, rather than just increases of individual prescriptions. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) looked at prescription drug use among 37,959 US adults outside institutions during 2 time frames, from 1999-2000 and from 2011-2012. Overall, the number of US adults using prescription drugs rose from 51% to 59% across the 2 periods…
