I knew we'd gone over the top when they introduced a pill to cure shyness
Americans Relying More on Prescription Drugs, Report Says
By ROBERT PEAR
ASHINGTON, Dec. 2 - More than 40 percent of Americans take at least one prescription drug, and 17 percent take three or more, the government said Thursday in a comprehensive report on the nation's health.
The report documented the growing use of medications in the last decade, a trend that it attributed to the growth of insurance coverage for drugs, the discovery and marketing of new products, and clinical guidelines that recommend greater use of drugs to treat high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and other conditions.
Health spending shot up 9.3 percent in 2002, to $1.6 trillion, but Americans seem to be getting some benefits from it, the report said. Life expectancy at birth increased to 77.3 years in 2002, a record, and deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke - the nation's leading killers - declined.
But, the government noted, "men and women have longer life expectancies in many other countries," including Japan, Italy and Canada.
Use of prescription drugs in the United States is rising among people of all ages, and the nation's medicine chests are more crowded than ever.
