Antidepressants were the most commonly prescribed medications during US hospital and doctor visits, according to statistics published Friday from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The survey examined 352 hospitals and about 1,200 physicians throughout 2005.
Of 2.4 billion drugs mentioned in patients’ medical records in 2005, 118 million were antidepressants. High blood pressure medications followed at 113 million and arthritis or headache drugs were mentioned in 110 million patient records.
The study also found that hospital and doctor visits have surged 20% in the past five years.
The report estimates that 1.2 billion visits were made to hospitals, emergency rooms and physicians’ offices in 2005.
The full CDC report is available online at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/as/ad388.pdf.
