A shocking number of Americans are taking prescription drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
About half of all Americans reported taking one or more prescription drugs in the past thirty days during 2007-2010, and one in five took 5 or more according to the government's annual report on the nation's health.
Cardiovascular agents which are used for high blood pressure, heart disease or kidney disease and cholesterol-lowering drugs were the two most commonly used prescription drugs among adults aged 18-64. Nearly 18 percent of those adults say they took at least one cardiovascular drug in the past 30 days. The use of cholesterol-lowering drugs among that same age group increased more than six fold since 1988-1994, due in part to the introduction and acceptance of statin drugs to lower cholesterol.
Other commonly used prescription drugs among older adults were analgesics, blood thinners and diabetes medications.
In younger Americans the NCHS finds the use of antidepressants increased fourfold, from 2.4 percent to 10.8 percent between 1988-1994 to 2007-2010.