Overview

Row

Year Range Start and End

Same By Sex

Tables

Overview
Prescripts 1988–1994 2015–2018 Delta Ratio
At least one 39.1 45.7 6.6 1.17
At least three 11.8 21.3 9.5 1.81
At least five 4.0 11.2 7.2 2.80
Overview By Sex
Prescripts Sex 1988–1994 2015–2018 Delta Ratio
At least one Female 45.0 49.5 4.5 1.10
At least one Male 32.7 41.7 9.0 1.28
At least three Female 13.9 22.6 8.7 1.63
At least three Male 9.4 20.0 10.6 2.13
At least five Female 4.9 11.6 6.7 2.37
At least five Male 2.9 10.8 7.9 3.72

About Project & Data Source

About

This dashboard explores the usage of prescription drugs in the USA as reported by the CDC in “Table 39. Prescription drug use in the past 30 days, by sex, race and Hispanic origin, and age: United States, selected years 1988–1994 through 2015–2018.”

The data shows over time a disturbing prevalence towards polypharmacy: the “use of multiple medications by a patient.” This prevalence is consistent across all four Age Groups in the data set: Under 18, 18-44, 45-64, and 65 & older.

The drastic increase in polypharmacy has both public health and environmental implications. Please see the following reports by the NIH, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Circle of Blue, to start.

Data Humanist for American Exile
6 June 2022
Github Repo: Polypharmacy USA

 

Data Source

Table 39, which stops at the Year Range 2015-2018, is the most recent data publicly available. The source data is downloadable from the CDC as an Excel file and a PDF.

The “selected years” or Year Ranges are 1988–1994, 1999–2002, 2001–2004, 2003–2006, 2005–2008, 2007–2010, 2009–2012, 2011–2014, 2013–2016, 2015–2018. For each, the data set reports the

  • Percent of persons using at least one prescription drug in the past 30 days
  • Percent of persons using three or more prescription drugs in the past 30 days
  • Percent of persons using five or more prescription drugs in the past 30 days

We simplify this to At least one, At least three, and At least five.

At least one

Row

Overview

By Sex

Tables

Overview: At least one
1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
39.1 45.2 46.7 46.9 47.2 47.5 47.3 46.9 45.8 45.7
Overview: At least one by Sex
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 45.0 50.3 51.5 51.9 52.4 52.0 51.8 51.2 49.7 49.5
Male 32.7 39.8 41.6 41.7 41.8 42.8 42.7 42.6 41.7 41.7

Age Under 18

Age 18-44

Tables: Age <= 44

At least one: Age Group Under 18
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 20.6 21.7 22.4 24.0 25.2 23.5 23.8 22.0 17.9 19.6
Male 20.4 25.7 25.3 25.3 25.3 24.5 23.1 21.1 22.4 23.3
At least one: Age Group 18-44
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 40.7 44.6 45.9 46.6 47.9 47.6 46.4 45.3 44.9 44.2
Male 21.5 27.1 29.2 28.0 27.5 29.5 29.6 28.8 26.6 27.0

Age 45-64

Age 65 and over

Tables: Age >= 45

At least one: Age Group 45-64
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 62.0 72.0 73.4 71.6 70.2 70.8 71.1 72.1 72.5 71.0
Male 47.2 55.6 58.7 58.4 59.3 61.3 63.1 65.6 64.3 62.9
At least one: Age Group 65 and older
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 78.3 88.1 90.1 90.3 90.5 90.4 91.4 92.1 89.5 88.9
Male 67.2 80.1 83.6 88.2 89.7 88.8 87.7 88.7 88.5 87.9

At least three

Row

Overview

By Sex

Tables

Overview: At least three
1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
11.8 17.8 20.2 21 20.8 20.8 20.6 21.5 21.8 21.3
Overview: At least three by Sex
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 13.9 20.4 22.8 23.8 23.2 22.5 22.0 23.2 23.4 22.6
Male 9.4 14.8 17.3 18.0 18.3 19.1 19.1 19.7 20.1 20.0

Age Under 18

Age 18-44

Tables: Age <= 44

At least three: Age Group Under 18
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 2.3 3.9 3.9 4 3.8 3.1 3.1 3.5 2.7 2.9
Male 2.6 4.3 4.1 4 5.0 4.4 4.1 4.3 4.3 3.9
At least three: Age Group 18-44
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 7.6 10.2 12.3 14.3 13.3 12.2 11.8 12.6 12.9 11.9
Male 3.6 6.7 8.0 6.9 6.2 7.1 7.5 7.5 7.7 8.2

Age 45-64

Age 65 and over

Tables: Age >= 45

At least three: Age Group 45-64
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 24.7 37.5 39.9 40.6 39.4 38.1 37.8 39.4 40.4 38.9
Male 15.1 23.6 28.3 29.8 28.6 30.4 31.4 33.0 34.0 33.8
At least three: Age Group 65 and older
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 38.2 55.9 64.0 64.7 65.3 66.4 64.9 68.1 68.3 67.1
Male 31.3 46.3 54.2 60.5 64.6 66.8 64.6 65.2 66.6 65.5

At least five

Row

Overview

By Sex

Tables

Overview: At least five
1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
4 7.5 9.2 10 10.2 10.1 10.1 10.9 11.2 11.2
Overview: At least five by Sex
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 4.9 8.7 10.4 11.4 11.5 11.0 10.8 12.0 12.3 11.6
Male 2.9 6.1 7.9 8.4 8.9 9.2 9.3 9.7 10.1 10.8

Age Under 18

Age 18-44

Tables: Age <= 44

At least five: Age Group Under 18
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female NA 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.6 NA 0.5 0.7
Male NA NA 0.8 1.0 1.1 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.8 1.2
At least five: Age Group 18-44
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 1.7 2.8 3.9 4.9 5.0 4.0 3.9 4.8 4.9 5.0
Male 0.8 1.7 2.6 2.1 1.8 2.1 2.8 3.0 2.9 3.4

Age 45-64

Age 65 and over

Tables: Age >= 45

At least five: Age Group 45-64
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 9.7 16.8 18.8 20.7 20.2 19.1 18.3 20.7 22.0 18.7
Male 4.8 9.5 12.5 13.4 13.7 14.4 14.2 15.7 17.1 17.4
At least five: Age Group 65 and older
Sex 1988–1994 1999–2002 2001–2004 2003–2006 2005–2008 2007–2010 2009–2012 2011–2014 2013–2016 2015–2018
Female 15.6 28.9 35.4 37.4 38.3 39.8 40.0 42.6 42.0 41.9
Male 11.3 24.7 30.6 34.5 38.4 39.5 37.9 38.4 39.4 42.0

Data Sets

Row

By Year Range

By Year Range & Age Group

By Year Range & Age Group & Sex

Note

The data sets downloadable from the this dashboard are Tidy versions, subsets of the CDC data source: “Table 39. Prescription drug use in the past 30 days, by sex, race and Hispanic origin, and age: United States, selected years 1988–1994 through 2015–2018.” The source data is downloadable from the CDC as an Excel file and a PDF.

Please also browse the “About Project & Data Source” tab on the Overview page of this dashboard, if you have not already done so.

Finally, the code and Tidy data sets used for this dashboard are freely available at Github Repo: Polypharmacy USA. Direct URL: https://github.com/Thom-J-H/polypharmacy_usa

Thank you for stopping by.