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Comment by throwaway2037

10 days ago

To clarify, I just Googled for: what percent of american adults are on prescription drugs?

I got back from "AI Overview": Approximately 64.8% of adults in the United States report taking prescription medication at some point in the past 12 months. This figure is based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The key phrase here is "at some point". I guess a huge amount of it is a very short 1-3 week dose of antibiotics.

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throwaway2037

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LinuxBender  10 days ago

I can invoke the powers of Google as well. Let's ask it how many Americans are on blood pressure drugs.

"Approximately 51.2% of Americans with hypertension (high blood pressure) are currently taking medication to lower their blood pressure."

That is not a temporary thing. Most of those people will be on drugs the rest of their unnatural lives. So when the availability of said drugs is gone, 51.2% of Americans will go into full rebound and their BP will spike for several days to weeks. Their risk of stroke and heart attack will go off the charts as any ER doctor can attest to. What should we do for those poor souls?

  • citrusybread  9 days ago

    that's 51.2% of Americans with Hypertension, not 51.2% of Americans at large.

    CDC says:

        Percent of people using at least one prescription drug in the past 30 days: 49.9% (2017-March 2020)
    Percent of people using three or more prescription drugs in the past 30 days: 24.7% (2017-March 2020)
    Percent of persons using five or more prescription drugs in the past 30 days: 13.5% (2017-March 2020)

    Source: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Published by: Health, United States. Table RxUse and NCHS Data Query System, Prescription Medication Use Tables One or more, Three or more, Five or more.

    https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/drug-use-therapeutic.htm

    It is coincidentally close to 51.2%, but not the same statement.