This statistic depicts the average number of prescriptions filled yearly by Canadians who were prescribed medications as of 2018, by age. According to the source, those 65 years and older filled approximately *** prescriptions per year. Comparatively those aged ***** years only filled *** prescriptions per year.

The average number of prescriptions per capita in the U.S. was, on average, 12.2 per capita in 2013. Trends indicate that the number of prescriptions per capita increases with age. Those aged 65-79 years utilize, on average 27.3 prescriptions per year. The number of prescriptions filled in the U.S. has increased in recent years.

Prescription drugs in the U.S.

It is expected that there will be 4.57 billion prescriptions filled annually by the year 2024. The total percentage of the U.S. population that had used prescription drugs in the past 30 days was about 47 percent as of 2014. The top therapeutic area in the U.S. in 2016 was represented through antihypertensive drugs, followed by pain management drugs.

The U.S. pharmaceutical industry

Residents in the U.S. pay some of the highest pharmaceutical per capita costs worldwide. One consequence of high pharmaceutical costs in the U.S. is a booming pharmaceutical industry. The U.S. pharmaceutical industry, which is responsible for the production and development of prescription drugs, in the U.S. has grown significantly in recent years. Domestic revenue from U.S. pharmaceutical companies was about 225 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.

The number of prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. has increased between 2009 and 2022. In 2009 the number of prescriptions dispensed was near **** billion, while in 2022 the number of prescriptions dispensed was around *** billion. The increase in the number of prescriptions dispensed has a multifactorial origin that includes health care sources, health insurance, and prescription drug benefits. However, the increase in prescription drug usage comes with a price tag as the price of drugs in the U.S. is also on the rise. Medication usage The total number of retail prescriptions filed annually in the United States is expected to also rise significantly by the year 2025. Medication usage varies depending on the population, for example, some data shows that prescription usage increases with age. Likewise, gender has an influence on prescription drug use. Females have a higher rate of prescription drug usage. Prescription drug costs The U.S. has some of the highest per capita drug spending in the world. That is largely because the prices of drugs in the U.S. are based solely on what the market can bear, rather than what the actual costs of production are. Personal health care expenditures in the U.S. have more than doubled since 2000. Estimates suggest that the cost of drugs will continue to increase. Estimated U.S. prescribed drug expenditures amounted to *** billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2021.

This statistic shows the percentage of the U.S. population with usage of prescription drugs within the past month between 1988 and 2018. In the period 2015-2018, 21.5 percent of the population under 18 years used prescription drugs.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate that prescription drug expenditure in the United States will reach around 460 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. This amount includes only retail drug spending, excluding nonretail. Estimations of drug spending can vary by investigating organization. For the U.S., among the most relevant drug spending calculations are provided by CMS, ASPE (Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation), and pharmaceutical market researcher IQVIA. High drug prices in the U.S.The United States is the country with the highest total drug spending, and also with the highest per capita pharmaceuticals spending among developed countries. This is mostly connected to higher drug prices in the United States. For example, the price for the blockbuster drug Humira was almost three times higher in the United States than in Germany in 2017. But whereas in other countries, governments more or less directly control drug prices, the U.S. leaves drug pricing to market competition. As a consequence, the U.S. market is the most profitable for pharmaceutical companies. Where the money is spentNearly half of all Americans have taken at least one prescription medicine within the preceding month. The therapeutic areas where spending is the highest are ‘traditionally’ to be found among antidiabetics, oncologics, autoimmune, and respiratory diseases. Based on number of prescriptions filled, antihypertensives, pain reliever, and mental health drugs are the leading classes.

In 2024, drug expenditures in Ontario averaged at some 1,243 Canadian dollars per person. Per capita health expenditures tend to differ among provinces, partially due to differences in age distribution. This statistic shows a forecast of the drug expenditure per capita in each Canadian province in 2024.

In the years since 2016/17, there has been over one billion prescription items dispensed from community pharmacies in England. The year with the highest items dispensed was 2023/24, when 1.11 billion items were dispensed, a significant increase from the 850 million items dispensed 13 years previously. Dispensing pharmacy numbers The average amount of items dispensed at each pharmacy in 2023/24 works out at around seven thousand per month per pharmacy. Although, over 3,000 pharmacies dispensed an average of over ten thousand items a month. Unsurprisingly, the average number of prescriptions dispensed at each pharmacy has also increased since 2006.   What is being dispensed? The therapeutic class with the highest total of prescription items dispensed was for the cardiovascular system at some 355 million drugs, followed by drugs for the central nervous system, which had approximately 231 million items dispensed. The single leading drug dispensed was atorvastatin which reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes in those with high cholesterol.

In financial year 2023, a survey on patient experiences in Australia reported that around 94 percent of male respondents who were 85 years and older received prescriptions for medication in that year, just slightly lower than females in that age group, at around 96 percent. The overall survey results show that patients are more likely to receive a prescription for medication if they are older.

BackgroundLaboratory evidence suggests that reduced phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) expression increases the invasiveness of melanoma cells; hence, pharmacological inhibition of PDE5 could affect melanoma risk. Two major epidemiological studies have investigated this and come to differing conclusions. We therefore aimed to investigate whether PDE5 inhibitor use is associated with an increased risk of malignant melanoma, and whether any increase in risk is likely to represent a causal relationship.Methods and FindingsWe conducted a matched cohort study using primary care data from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink. All men initiating a PDE5 inhibitor and with no prior cancer diagnosis were identified and matched on age, diabetes status, and general practice to up to four unexposed controls. Ever use of a PDE5 inhibitor and time-updated cumulative number of PDE5 inhibitor prescriptions were investigated as exposures, and the primary outcome was malignant melanoma. Basal cell carcinoma, solar keratosis, and colorectal cancer were investigated as negative control outcomes to exclude bias. Hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated from Cox models stratified by matched set and adjusted for potential confounders.145,104 men with ≥1 PDE5 inhibitor prescription, and 560,933 unexposed matched controls were included. In total, 1,315 incident malignant melanoma diagnoses were observed during 3.44 million person-years of follow-up (mean 4.9 y per person). After adjusting for potential confounders, there was weak evidence of a small positive association between PDE5 inhibitor use and melanoma risk (HR = 1.14, 95% CI 1.01–1.29, p = 0.04). A similar increase in risk was seen for the two negative control outcomes related to sun exposure (HR = 1.15, 95% CI 1.11–1.19, p

BackgroundIndividuals with criminal histories have high rates of opioid dependence and mortality. Excess mortality is largely attributable to overdose deaths. Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is one of the best evidence-based opioid substitution treatments (OSTs), but there is uncertainty about whether methadone treatment reduces the risk of mortality among convicted offenders over extended follow-up periods. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between adherence to MMT and overdose fatality as well as other causes of mortality.Methods and findingsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study involving linked population-level administrative data among individuals in British Columbia (BC), Canada with a history of conviction and who filled a methadone prescription between January 1, 1998 and March 31, 2015. Participants were followed from the date of first-dispensed methadone prescription until censoring (date of death or March 31, 2015). Methadone was divided into medicated (methadone was dispensed) and nonmedicated (methadone was not dispensed) periods and analysed as a time-varying exposure. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs were estimated using multivariable Cox regression to examine mortality during the study period. All-cause and cause-specific mortality rates were compared during medicated and nonmedicated methadone periods. Participants (n = 14,530) had a mean age of 34.5 years, were 71.4% male, and had a median follow-up of 6.9 years. A total of 1,275 participants died during the observation period. The overall all-cause mortality rate was 11.2 per 1,000 person-years (PYs). Participants were significantly less likely to die from both nonexternal (adjusted HR [AHR] 0.27 [95% CI 0.23–0.33]) and external (AHR 0.41 [95% CI 0.33–0.51]) causes during medicated periods, independent of sociodemographic, criminological, and health-related factors. Death due to infectious diseases was 5 times lower (AHR 0.20 [95% CI 0.13–0.30]), and accidental poisoning (overdose) deaths were nearly 3 times lower (AHR 0.39 [95% CI 0.30–0.50]) during medicated periods. A competing risk regression demonstrated a similar pattern of results. The use of a Canadian offender population may limit generalizability of results. Furthermore, our observation period represents community-based methadone prescribing and may omit prescriptions administered during hospital separations. Therefore, the magnitude of the protective effects of methadone from nonexternal causes of death should be interpreted with caution.ConclusionsAdherence to methadone was associated with significantly lower rates of death in a population-level cohort of Canadian convicted offenders. Achieving higher rates of adherence may reduce overdose deaths and other causes of mortality among offenders and similarly marginalized populations. Our findings warrant examination in other study centres in response to the crisis of opiate-involved deaths.

The Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing, which ran from 1992 to 2014, was devised to generate longitudinal data over multiple time points. Thirteen waves were carried out. Waves 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 comprised of a full face-to-face ‘household’ interview and a clinical assessment. Waves 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13 consisted of shorter telephone household interviews.The initial sample of the older old (70 and older) was randomly drawn from the database of the South Australian Electoral Roll. Persons in the older age groups as well as males were deliberately oversampled to compensate for the higher mortality that could be expected over the study period. In addition, spouses of primary respondents (aged 65 and over) and other household members aged 70 and over were asked to participate. 2087 participants were initially interviewed at Wave 1 in 1992. Over the years, attrition due to either death, ill health, moving out of scope, being uncontactable, or refusal has reduced the number of participants to 94 in 2014. Information covering the data, questionnaires and relevant details are openly available.Items in the household interview schedule represent a comprehensive set of measures chosen for their reliability and validity in previous studies, sensitivity to change over time, and suitability for use in a study of elderly persons. The domains assessed included demography, health, depression, morbid conditions, hospitalisation, hearing and vision difficulties, cognition, gross mobility and physical performance, activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living, lifestyle activities, exercise education and income.At the completion of the household interview, participants were left with self-administered questionnaires, which were mailed back in pre- paid envelopes or collected at the time of the clinical assessment. The domains covered by the questionnaires were dental health, sexual activity and psychological measures of self-esteem, morale and perceived control.The individual clinical assessment objectively measured both physical and cognitive functioning. The physical examination included measures of blood pressure, anthropometry, visual acuity, audiometry and physical performance. The cognitive assessment included measures of memory, information processing efficiency, verbal ability and executive function. The clinical assessments were conducted by nurses who received special training in the standard administration of all psychological instruments and the anthropometric measures. In addition, fasting blood samples and urine specimens were collected on the morning following the clinical assessment at Wave 1, and blood samples were again taken at Wave 3.Some data have been provided by secondary sources. Participant deaths have been systematically monitored through the government Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.From Wave 7 onward, collateral data were gathered from the files of the Health Insurance Commission (HIC). Permission was sought for access to the Health Insurance Commission HIC for purposes of establishing use of medical care and services and expenditure. The information sought from the HIC database included: the number of medical care services, and for each service, the nature of the service, date, charge, and benefit; the number of PBS prescriptions, and for each prescription, the drug prescribed, number of repeats, date, charge, and benefit.

The proportion of branded to generic drug prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. was relatively stable over the last four years. In general, prescriptions for branded drugs make up between ***** and **** percent of all prescriptions dispensed in the United States. What are generics? Generic medications are drugs created with the same ingredients as brand-name drugs, but are not created under the umbrella of a brand. They are made to work the same way that brand-name drugs work, but are often cheaper. The top generic drug companies in the U.S. include Teva, Mylan and Sandoz (formerly part of Novartis). Generic drugs provide a large proportion of all pharmaceuticals dispensed. Among all pharmaceutical products dispensed in the U.S., levothyroxine, a drug used to treat hypothyroidism, is among the top drugs based on number of prescriptions dispensed. Cost savings through generics Generic drugs provide immense savings to consumers in the United States. The amount of money saved by the U.S. health system through generic usage has more than doubled since 2015. Direct savings for consumers depends on the payer. Commercial insurance coverage had the highest degree of cost savings in the U.S. and those that paid out-of-pocket had the lowest savings in 2023. However, branded drugs still account for nearly ** percent of total U.S. Rx drug spending.

Deaths covering Smoking only to 2019.

Introduction: Regular physical exercise is believed to counteract the adverse physiological consequences of aging. However, smart fitness equipment specifically designed for older adults is quite rare. Here we designed an exergame-integrated internet of things (IoT)-based ergometer system (EIoT-ergo) that delivers personalized exercise prescriptions for older adults. First, physical fitness was evaluated using the Senior Fitness Test (SFT) application. Then, radio frequency identification (RFID) triggered the EIoT-ergo to deliver the corresponding exercise session based on the individual level of physical fitness. The exercise intensity during each workout was measured to generate the next exercise session. Further, EIoT-ergo provides an exergame to help users control and maintain their optimal cadence while engaging in exercise. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial with 1:1 randomization. Participants were older adults, 50+ years of age (N = 35), who are active in their community. Participants in the EIoT-ergo group received a 12-week personalized exercise program delivered by EIoT-ergo for 30 min per session, with 2 sessions per week. Participants in the control group continued with their usual activities. A senior’s fitness test and a health questionnaire were assessed at baseline and at a 13-week reassessment. The Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology (QUEST) was used to evaluate the satisfaction of EIoT-ergo. Results: Compared with the control group, the EIoT-ergo group showed significant improvements in muscle strength (time-by-group interaction, sit-to-stand: β = 5.013, p < 0.001), flexibility (back stretch: β = 4.008, p = 0.005; and sit-and-reach: β = 4.730, p = 0.04), and aerobic endurance (2-min step: β = 9.262, p = 0.03). The body composition was also improved in the EIoT-ergo group (body mass index: β = −0.737, p < 0.001; and skeletal muscle index: β = 0.268, p = 0.03). Satisfaction with EIoT-ergo was shown in QUEST, with an average score of 4.4 ± 0.32 (5 for very satisfied). The percentage maximum heart rate in each session also indicated that EIoT-ergo can gradually build up the exercise intensity of users. Conclusions: EIoT-ergo was developed to provide personal identification, exergames, intelligent exercise prescriptions, and remote monitoring, as well as to significantly enhance the physical fitness of the elderly individuals under study.

In 2022, the number of alprazolam prescriptions had decreased to some 15 million. Alprazolam is a potent, short-acting benzodiazepine anxiolytic — a minor tranquilizer, used for the treatment of anxiety disorders, especially of panic disorder, but also in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or social anxiety disorder. This statistic shows the total annual number of alprazolam prescriptions in the U.S. from 2004 to 2022, in millions.

Based on pharmacy claims of those who filled at least one prescription for mental health medication in 2019, antidepressant use is most prevalent in West Virginia, Kentucky, Vermont, and New Hampshire. This statistic shows the percentage of patients (excluding those on government-sponsored benefits) who filled a prescription for antidepressants in the U.S. in 2019, by state.

Globally, antidepressant usage has been on the rise. As of 2023, among select Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, Iceland, Portugal, and the UK were the biggest consumers of antidepressants. At that time, people in Iceland consumed antidepressants at a rate of about *** defined daily doses (DDD) per 1,000 people. Mental health globally Mental health disorders affect a significant proportion of the population, though addressing and understanding the prevalence of mental health is difficult due to regional differences in diagnostic criteria and understandings of mental health. Despite barriers to gathering data on mental health, there have been some global quantitative studies to help better understand certain conditions. It is suggested that mental health is among the top three health concerns among adults worldwide. Estimates propose that about ** percent of the overall population suffers from some mental health or substance use disorder. Depression and anxiety A global survey showed that the largest numbers of people with anxiety resided in locations in South-East Asia and the Americas. However, the highest distribution of cases of depression globally is among populations in South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. Both depression and anxiety disproportionately impact women in all regions of the world.

This statistic displays how individuals in England with asthma pay for their prescriptions in 2016. Of respondents aged between 50 and 59 years old, 64 percent had a prescription prepayment certificate (PPC), compared with 39 percent of 18 to 29 year olds.

This statistic displays the financial impact on individuals of paying for their asthma prescriptions in England in 2016. The majority of respondents said there was an impact on their finances, with 46 percent claiming 'some impact' and a further 18 percent claiming 'a large impact'.