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Most information about prescription drug use in the U.S. comes from pharmacy or administrative databases. To evaluate prescription drug use on a population level, researchers examined data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey on prescription drug use in 38,000 adults (age, ≥20) assessed during seven 2-year survey cycles (1999–2000 through 2011–2012); data were collected from 5000 to 6000 participants during each cycle.
From 1999 through 2012, the percentage of participants who reported any prescription drug use during the previous 30 days rose from 51% to 59%. The prevalence of polypharmacy (≥5 prescription drugs) rose from 8.2% to 15% overall, and from 24% to 39% in participants 65 and older. Among 18 major drug classes, prevalence…