About one in six American adults took a psychiatric drug — most often antidepressants, sedatives or antipsychotics — at least once during 2013, according to a new research letter published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. Because the results came from self-reported data, the actual numbers may be higher, say co-authors Thomas J. Moore, a senior scientist at the Drug Safety and Policy Institute for Safe Medication Practices and lecturer at Milken Institute School of
Public Health of The George Washington University, and Dr. Donald R. Mattison, chief medical officer at Risk Sciences International in Ottawa. Importantly, the study found that older adults, between the ages of 60 and 85, are now the highest users of psychiatric medicines: More than a quarter of people between the ages of 60 and 85 reported use, compared with just 9% of those between the ages of 18 and 39 and nearly 18% of adults between the ages of 40 and 59. READ MORE
