tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35204126.post-556524445938453902007-02-26T15:36:00.000-08:002007-02-26T16:33:26.393-08:00In a February 25, 2007 NY Times article entitled "How Two Rights Can Make a Wrong," Howard Markle, MD does a fantastic job if describing the perils of prescription drugs. Added to this well-referenced article is a graphic that describes the complexity in a new way.<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/weekinreview/25markel.html">Follow this link to the NY Times article (Subscription may be required)</a></li><li><a href="http://www.markfrisse.com/images/20070225_MARKEL_GRAPHIC.pdf">Follow this link to the NY Times graphic (copyrighted material)</a></li></ul>He has a more current, 2005 number for prescription drugs - 3.6 billion (2004 was 3.38 billion). His source is the Kaiser Family Foundation. (source - <a href="http://www.kff.org/rxdrugs/3057.cfm">June 2006 Prescription Fact Sheet)</a><br /><br />Mentioned as well is the October 18, 2006 survey of emergency departments published in JAMA by Budnitz et. al. (<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&amp;dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17047216&amp;query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum">PubMed Source</a>; <a href="http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/296/15/1858">JAMA abstract</a>). They performed active surveillance from January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2005, through the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project. They found that over the 2-year study period, 21,298 adverse drug event cases were reported, producing weighted annual estimates of 701,547 individuals.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.bu.edu/slone/SloneSurvey/SloneSurvey.htm">Sloan Epidemiology Center</a> is cited as a source for prescription drug use. They claim:<br /><ul><li>75% of Americans over 65 years of age took roughly four prescription drug on a daily basis</li><li>the average 75-year old swallowed 8 different prescription medications each day</li><li>82 percent of the united states population reported using at least one prescription drug, over-the-counter meds, or dietary supplement in the previous week.</li></ul>A fascinating report by the Columbia University Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse entitled "<a href="http://www.casacolumbia.org/supportcasa/item.asp?cID=12&amp;PID=138">Under the Counter: the Diversion and Abuse of Controlled Substances in the US</a>" states that:<br /><ul><li>34% of pharmacists do not have time to check a patient's full medication history at the time of dispensing</li><li>28% do not regularly validate the prescriber DEA number and 10% rarely or never do so.</li><li>Only about half (54%) of physicians in the survey regularly call or obtain records from patient's previous (or other treating) physicians before prescribing long-term controlled drugs.</li></ul><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35204126-55652444593845390?l=www.markfrisse.com%2Ferx%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Mark Frissenoreply@blogger.com0