Among adults aged ≥65 years, men (89.0%) and women (89.3%) were equally likely to take prescription medication. Prescription medication use increased with age, from 48.4% for those aged 18–44 years to 89.2% for those aged ≥65 years, and this pattern of increasing use with age was observed for both men and women.¹

In 2021, the American Society of Pharmacovigilance (ASP) launched the Fourth Cause Campaign to raise awareness that adverse drug events (ADEs) were the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Today, new data confirm a troubling and unacceptable reality—ADEs have now surged to become the third leading cause of death. An internal analysis conducted by ASP projects that adverse drug events now account for over 250,000 deaths annually, surpassing stroke and respiratory disease, making it the third leading cause of death in the United States.² [Shades of Midazolam in the UK]

1. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7216a7.htm#:~:text=*%20With%2095%25%20CIs%20indicated%20by%20error%20bars.&text=Based%20on%20a%20positive%20response,did%20you%20take%20prescription%20medication?%E2%80%9D&text=Estimates%20are%20based%20on%20household,for%20both%20men%20and%20women.&text=Reported%20by:%20Robin%20A.,/10.15585/mmwr.mm7216a7. ↩︎
2. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/americas-silent-epidemic-worsens-adverse-drug-events-now-the-third-leading-cause-of-death-302408765.html#:~:text=HOUSTON%2C%20March%2024%2C%202025%20/,death%20in%20the%20United%20States. ↩︎