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Americans will spend half their lives taking prescription drugs, study finds

Americans will spend half their lives taking prescription drugs, study finds | Penn State University

https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/americans-will-spend-half-their-lives-taking-prescription-drugs-study-finds/

An American born in 2019 will spend a larger share of their lifetime taking prescription drugs than being married or receiving an education, according to new research by Jessica Ho, associate professor of sociology and demography at Penn State. She reported the findings this week in the journal Demography.

Americans will spend half their lives taking prescription drugs, study finds | Penn State University

An American born in 2019 will spend a larger share of their lifetime taking prescription drugs than being married or receiving an education, according to new research by Jessica Ho, associate professor of sociology and demography at Penn State. She reported the findings this week (article date: Oct 6) in the journal Demography.

15 comments

geogle

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This title makes it sound like a bad thing. Keep in mind that before the past century, most didn't live much past 60, and when older, you had a lot more health problems.

Some long term drugs are quite useful and shouldn't be considered at all as unnecessary or detrimental. This includes things like insulin or blood pressure medicine.

Pricing of some meds is a whole other story...

FlyingSquid

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I have a rare nerve disorder, bipolar disorder and high blood pressure. Pharmaceuticals are keeping me alive. Like you said, the prices are ridiculous, but the actual science is usually sound.

People say pharmaceutical companies aren't interested in keeping you alive. Fine. Doctors usually are and they generally want to write prescriptions that help you.

captainlezbian

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Yeah I needed certain drugs from a young age. Does it suck? Sure. Are the anxiety meds needed in part due to environmental factors? Probably but also genes say I’d still need them. Would I much rather live now than a hundred years ago when one of these drugs I need was available and the condition it treats was treated with hitting children until they were too traumatized to disobey authority? No no I wouldn’t.

PugJesus

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Turns out evolution isn't goal oriented, and we're just a mass of questionable genetic material with precarious chemical balances.

Thank you, modern medicine, I would literally be dead without you

OutlierBlue

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Wow, it only takes me about 30 seconds every morning. I'm way ahead of the game here.

FlyingSquid

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Wow. Americans take a long time to swallow.

lennybird

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I'm grateful for the meds that are there. Considering both my parents are on a cocktail of drugs treating symptoms of other problems, I just don't know if they'd have the will to tackle these systemic problems.

That being said, this saddens me because much of this need for meds boils down not to genetics but of societal lifestyle (average stress, sedentary lifestyle, misinformation on healthy diets (e.g., carnivore diet), and generally things within our control.)

It's my personal goal to fight the old for as long as I can and reasonably do that which is best for my body. So I may spend more time with my kids and do more things with them, and generally just enjoy life longer. So in that sense, I want to prevent the need for taking meds as long as I can and focus on prevention and root cause.

LongRedCoat

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Yep, my parents are also sadly in the school of "just take a pill for it," which then turns into taking more pills for the side effects of the pills they're taking, and on and on.

While I'm in the "make healthy lifestyle changes" camp and have, so far in my early 40s, never been on long term medication and hopefully never will. It's so frustrating watching my parents deteriorate while still paying for so many meds.

Kasumi

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FlyingSquid

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Agreed. Before I found medication that worked, I basically sat around all day miserable. I was just sitting around in pain, doing nothing. No work, no hobbies, nothing. Because it was too much to handle along with pain that would make me scream if it got too bad. So thank whatever gods you feel like believing in for the pharmaceuticals that made the pain mostly go away.

vivavideri

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Aw, just half? Don't know about y'all but I'm going on...80% so far.

atzanteol

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Many of the drugs that individuals are on for 40 or 50 years have only been on the market for the past five decades, so their long-term effects on the body are still unknown

Is that a typo? Because it sounds like we do have 50 years of data.

I hate when the way numbers are represented changes in an article. It feels slightly dishonest to say "50 years" in one sentence and then "five decades" in the next.

afraid_of_zombies

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Sounds about right. People live about 80 years so that would mean from age 40.

sylver_dragon

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#Better living through chemistry.

She found that the majority of American men are taking prescription drugs by age 40

Getting old sucks. By the time you hit 40, your body has been in decline for around 15 years. Sure, if you are fit, eat well and win the genetic lottery, you may still be doing very well through your 40's and 50's. Given the diet and exercise choices of most Americans, that probably only describes the thin tail of the bell curve.

For myself, I land squarely in the chubby bit of the bell curve. I'm in my mid 40's, my diet for most of my life was pretty bad. And I didn't exercise anywhere near enough. Diabetes also runs in my family for several generations back in every branch of the tree. Both my grandfathers died of complications due to diabetes. My mother has it, my father had some symptoms, though heart disease and the effects of Agent Orange did him in first. Really, I ended up in the shallow end of the gene pool for this. And surprise, surprise, I was diagnosed with diabetes in my early 40's. Though, with the benefit of hindsight, I was likely suffering issues in my 30's and would really love to be able to jump in a time machine and see what my a1c levels looked like throughout my life. I think the poor diet my parents taught may have had me out of whack since a very early age.

While I would likely survive for quite some time without medication, shifting my diet and exercise regimes is only going to get me so far. The cumulative damage and genetic pre-disposition basically means that I will be taking prescription medications for the rest of my life. And I consider myself damned lucky to live in a time where that is an option. I don't miss waking up 2-3 times a night to pee. Or worrying about my bladder giving out on a long drive and sprinting for the bathroom as soon as we arrive. Or, being hangry due to a missed meal. Nope, it all sucked. But, so long as I keep up my exercise, avoid eating complete crap, and feed the machine which is Big Pharma, I'm pretty normal.

And, I imagine I will only get more medicated as I get older. My body is in decline. Random aches and pains crop up and stick around a lot longer than they used to. Cuts, bumps and bruises don't heal anywhere near as fast. And, if nothing else gets me first, I'll undoubtedly get some form of cancer. So, I expect my doctor will put me on more and more medications as we go. And I'm ok with that. I'm on board with this whole "not dying" thing. Is any of this "bad"? Not in my view, but I'm a bit biased.

I don't know if the researchers intended this as just an answer to a question; or, if they are trying to support some sort of argument about "Big Pharma Bad!" I do suspect the former more than the latter. It is interesting to know that Americans are taking a lot of prescription medications. But, that might actually be a good thing. For me, it is. It's keeping me alive longer and providing a better quality of life. I know several other people for whom the same is true. Heck, before my father died, he was a walking study in pharmacology and the mixing of prescription medications. But, it meant that he was walking around much longer than Mother Nature would have allowed for. Yes, America is the Land of the Medicated. And that's kinda ok. Evolution dealt us all a shit hand for our later years. And some folks got complete shit for their entire lives. Fuck anyone who says we shouldn't be finding and using drugs which improve the lives of people with less than perfect bodies. Modern medicine has extended and improved the lives of countless people. And will hopefully continue to do so.

SloppyPuppy

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Is it bad?

Lexam

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If I'm lucky, it'll be more than half my life!

HootinNHollerin

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