The 5 Most-Prescribed Drugs in America

In its annual snapshot of America’s health, government health officials this year highlight the growing use of prescription drugs. Between 2007 to 2010, nearly half of U.S. adults and a quarter of children under age 18 used at least one prescription drug in the past month.

About a third of adults take something – cholesterol-lowering drugs or blood pressure medications — to treat heart disease, and 10% rely on prescription-strength pain killers.

While most of these medications are life-saving, or life-enhancing, there are some worrisome trends. Despite a decline, doctors are still prescribing antibiotics to treat cold symptoms, even though these drugs aren’t effective against the viruses responsible for the fevers, sneezes and sniffles. Deaths from overdoses of pain killers more than tripled in the past decade, and uninsured adults were four times less likely to get their prescriptions filled than those with insurance. Here are top five prescribed drugs for adults from 2007-2010, by percentage of users:

Cardiovascular 17.7%

Cholesterol-lowering 10.7%

Antidepressants 10.6%

Analgesics 10.5%

Anti-acid reflux 9%

Source: Health, United States, 2013