Prescriptions per capita by state

[christie1111]

I find the 17 ish prescriptions per capita number hard to believe.


http://health.msn.com/health-topics/art ... &GT1=31036

I know that I have 3 of which I only take one daily. But this kind of study would count all 3. The other are season allergy meds.

Anyone else want to analyze this and throw their 2 cents in?

Silly Q on this Bored, I know!

[silvercamaro]

This astonishes me. Here is how many prescriptions I have: 0.

I haven't taken any presecription medication since I finished up the antibiotics I took for pneumonia 15 months ago.

The dogs have one prescription each, heartworm preventative that is taken at the rate of one tablet per month.

[Four Hour Stiffy]

I only need one prescription, honey!

Well, OK, I usually have to take my heart mediation too. I am about 80, you know....

[tlynn78]

Holy cow, that's a lotta drugs. I don't take any 'scripts. Hub takes two, both related to his head injury. None of my grown kids take any, nor does my grandson. Let's see... my mom does take hbp med, and my dad takes maybe two or three prescription drugs. Somebody's reeally picking up my family's slack...


t.

[sunflower]

I only skimmed the article...cuz I'm tired and it's two pages...

But after having a roommate and an ex-boyfriend who were pharmacists, I had to hear script count stats daily. So it makes me wonder, are they counting each distinct fill as one? Because in that case if you fill a refill monthly, but only take one drug daily, it could be counted as 12?

So in actuality, if most people are on a maintenance drug that is refilled monthly, an average of 17 isn't bad.

[christie1111]

So in actuality, if most people are on a maintenance drug that is refilled monthly, an average of 17 isn't bad.

Is this what it says? 12 refills equals 12 scripts? I sort of thought it was 1 daily hbp, then 1 prescription seasonal allergy and 1 nasalspray for same would equal 3. Whether I actually refill the allergy meds or not. Sometimes I am not bothered, sometimes years I do fill them for a season.

I don't think it would count as 12 plus 4 plus 4 (possible refills).

[sunflower]

Yeah I don't know what it meant in the article. All I know is that pharmacies count scripts by the number filled in a day. So each distinct fill is one. So if they gathered their information from the retail pharmacies, I'm guessing that's what it represented.

[SportsFan68]

I find the 17 ish prescriptions per capita number hard to believe.

I still don't know how they're counting:

Prescriptions may have been new or refills of both brand name and generic drugs.

Do I count for three or 36?

[Here's Fanny!]

I find the 17 ish prescriptions per capita number hard to believe.

I still don't know how they're counting:

Prescriptions may have been new or refills of both brand name and generic drugs.

Do I count for three or 36?

I took it as Sunflower did, that it is per fill. In which case it's totally skewed, as several of mine are 90 days.

I also have one that you can get over the counter, but it's much cheaper with Mecca's $4 scrip program. So that would count as a 'prescription', whereas everybody buying it off of the shelf wouldn't have it count.

[SportsFan68]

I took it as Sunflower did, that it is per fill. In which case it's totally skewed, as several of mine are 90 days.

I agree -- totally skewed.

[sunflower]

I find the 17 ish prescriptions per capita number hard to believe.

I still don't know how they're counting:

Prescriptions may have been new or refills of both brand name and generic drugs.

Do I count for three or 36?

I took it as Sunflower did, that it is per fill. In which case it's totally skewed, as several of mine are 90 days.

I also have one that you can get over the counter, but it's much cheaper with Mecca's $4 scrip program. So that would count as a 'prescription', whereas everybody buying it off of the shelf wouldn't have it count.

Yeah same thing here, I get ibuprofen as a prescription because it's cheaper than buying it over the counter. But it's not what people typically think of as one.

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

It looks to me like the states with the most chronic health problems get the most prescriptions. Therefore prescriptions must cause chronic health problems.