What percentage of people don't take their medication?
Asked by: Favian Kuhn III | Last update: July 28, 2025Score: 4.3/5 (27 votes)
How many people don't take their medication?
Medication nonadherence—when patients don't take their medications as prescribed—is unfortunately fairly common, with research showing that patients don't take their medications as prescribed about half the time.
What percentage of patients do not take their medications as prescribed?
According to the World Health Organization, medication adherence can have a more direct impact on patient outcomes than a specific treatment itself. Still, it is estimated that a staggering 50% of Americans don't take their chronic long-term therapy medications as prescribed.
What is the #1 most prescribed drug?
The most prescribed drug in America is atorvastatin. The most common brand name for atorvastatin is Lipitor. What is atorvastatin used for? Atorvastatin is used to treat high cholesterol, which in turn helps prevent heart disease and symptoms of heart disease such as heart attack and stroke.
What percentage of the population takes medication?
About 66% of U.S. adults take prescription drugs (Health Policy Institute, 2021). About 46% of U.S. adults have taken a prescription drug in the past 30 days (CDC, 2019). The therapeutic areas with the highest spending in the U.S. are antidiabetics, oncologics, autoimmune, and respiratory diseases (Statista, 2021).
Medication Adherence - People Don't Take Their Meds
Are 70% of Americans on medication?
Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half take two, researchers say. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half take two, Mayo Clinic researchers say.
What is the most used drug in America?
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), marijuana is the most used drug in the United States. Legalization for medical and recreational use at state levels contributes to this. Prescription drugs: Pain relievers represent some of the most popular prescription-type drugs.
What is the number 1 selling drug in America?
Ranked: America's Top-Selling Drugs in 2023
Right at the top, semaglutide, (available as Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Wegovy) attracted nearly $40 billion in consumer spending in 2023. Initially developed to treat type 2 diabetes, semaglutide is now the key active ingredient in weight loss drugs for those who can afford it.
What 3 prescription drugs are most commonly abused?
Opioids (such as OxyContin and Vicodin), central nervous system depressants (such as Xanax and Valium), and stimulants (such as Concerta and Adderall) are the most commonly abused prescription drugs.
What country uses the most prescription drugs?
The United States takes the most prescription drugs, with a national average of each person spending around $1200 each year on Rx medication.
Do doctors get paid for prescribing drugs?
Federal law forbids doctors from receiving a commission for prescribing a specific drug. However, the law permits pharmaceutical companies to offer other legal incentives to doctors if they prescribe that company's drugs.
How many old people forget to take their medication?
The most common errors reported by elderly, polymedicated, and multipathological people were skipping a dose or not taking it regularly or at the prescribed frequency (reported by 50% of respondents), not remembering how the doctor had said to take the medication (42.9%), and confusing different medications and not ...
What percent of Americans regularly take prescription?
The percentage of adults taking prescription medication was lower among men than women overall (58.4% versus 70.9%) and for those aged 18–44 years (38.9% versus 57.8%) and 45–64 years (67.1% versus 75.7%). Among adults aged ≥65 years, men (89.0%) and women (89.3%) were equally likely to take prescription medication.
Why do some people not take medicine?
Even if a patient understands how effective or useful a medicine could be for them, they may still decide not to take the medicine as they simply do not want it based on the other factors it brings with it, such as side effects or other 'risks' that outweigh the 'need' or 'benefits' as shown in the selected clinical ...
What percentage of people can't take pills?
Whether the cause is emotional or physical, up to 40% of us have difficulty taking prescription and over-the-counter pills and tablets. Sometimes the problem is as simple as changing the form of your medication or the way you take it. Other times, the problem can hint at something more serious.
Who takes the most medication?
With the exception of children, all other age-sex strata exhibited significant increases in the prevalence of receipt of a prescription during the study period; listed in order of magnitude, these are men over the age of 65 (Spearman's rho = 0.996, P < 0.001), men aged 45 to 64 (Spearman's rho = 0.99, P < 0.001), women ...
What is the #1 prescribed drug?
Atorvastatin calcium was the most prescribed drug in 2022, with 2.8% of claims.
Which is the most heavily abused drug?
Alcohol is the most commonly abused drug in the world, and it can lead to various health problems. Alcohol abuse is responsible for over 100,000 deaths annually in the United States alone, making it the fourth leading cause of preventable death in the country.
What percent of Americans are addicted to drugs?
Quick Facts on Drug Addiction
According to the 2023 United States National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH): 48.5 million (16.7%) Americans (aged 12 and older) battled a substance use disorder in the past year. 10.2% of Americans 12 and older had an alcohol use disorder in the past year.
What is the greatest drug of all time?
1. Penicillin (1942) Penicillin was first developed in 1928 but started to be used in 1942. As the first official antibiotic, it marked a turning point in human history and led the way in the treatment of numerous bacterial diseases.
What is the most over prescribed drug in the US?
The most prescribed drug, atorvastatin (sold under brand Lipitor), was prescribed to 24.5 million people in the U.S. in 2019, or 7.5% of the population. It was one of many statin medications listed, which are used to prevent cardiovascular disease and treat abnormal lipid levels.
What is the most sold generic medicine?
- Atorvastatin (Lipitor) Drug Class: Statins. ...
- Lisinopril (Zestril) ...
- Albuterol (Accuneb, Ventolin, Proair, Proventil) ...
- Levothyroxine (Synthroid, Unithroid, Levoxyl, Levo-T, Euthyrox) ...
- Amlodipine (Norvasc, Amvaz) ...
- Gabapentin (Neurontin) ...
- Omeprazole (Prilosec) ...
- Metformin (Glucophage)
What is the world's most legal drug?
Caffeine-world's most widely consumed legal, unregulated psychoactive drug.
What is the most abused drug in college?
Marijuana. Marijuana is currently the most prevalent illicit drug used on college campuses, with nearly 1 in 3 students using the drug within the past 12 months. In the past 10 years, more young people have begun using marijuana because the perceived risk associated with its use has decreased significantly.
What is the most abused antidepressant?
- Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors.
- Bupropion.
- Tricyclic Antidepressants.
- Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake inhibitors.
- Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors.