A prescription needed for fewer meds?
A recent national study determined that for the first time, 51 percent of all insured American children and adults are taking one or more prescription drugs regularly for a chronic condition.
The most widely used drugs are those that lower high blood pressure and cholesterol - problems often linked to heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.
Medco Health Solutions, which manages prescription benefits for about one in five Americans, gathered the numbers last year. The company sampled 2.5 million customers, from newborns to the elderly and medication use was seen in:
• Almost two-thirds of women 20 and older.
• One in four children and teenagers.
• More than half of adult men.
• Three out of four people 65 and older.
Do you think Americans are over-medicated?
What steps have you taken to get off prescription medications?
--- Deidre Williams
