"Depending on what you count, over‑prescribing costs the United States anywhere from a few billion dollars a year in easily measurable drug waste to more than half a trillion dollars…" writes Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute. More
Every day, 750 older Americans end up in the hospital because of serious side effects from one or more medications, according to the Lown Institute, a health care think tank. And the chance you will experience a serious side effect from a prescribed medication goes up around 10% with each additional medication you take. More
“Polypharmacy”, as doctors call it, imposes a big drag on health. A recent study at a hospital in Liverpool found that nearly one in five hospital admissions was caused by adverse reactions to drugs. The Lown Institute, an American think-tank, reckons that, between 2020 and 2030, medication overload in America could cause more than 150,000 premature deaths and 4.5m hospital admissions. More
The Lown Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, argues in its 2019 report, Medication Overload: America’s Other Drug Problem, that Americans are experiencing an epidemic of medication that is particularly harmful to older adults. According to the report, more than 40% of older adults take five or more prescription medicines daily, and 20% take ten drugs or more. More