Americans will spend half their lives taking prescription drugs, study finds
EdenRester@kbin.social to 
psu.edu
An American born in 2019 will spend a larger share of their lifetime taking prescription drugs than being married or receiving an education, according to new research by Jessica Ho, associate professor of sociology and demography at Penn State. She reported the findings this week (article date: Oct 6) in the journal Demography.
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This title makes it sound like a bad thing. Keep in mind that before the past century, most didn't live much past 60, and when older, you had a lot more health problems.
Some long term drugs are quite useful and shouldn't be considered at all as unnecessary or detrimental. This includes things like insulin or blood pressure medicine.
Pricing of some meds is a whole other story...
I have a rare nerve disorder, bipolar disorder and high blood pressure. Pharmaceuticals are keeping me alive. Like you said, the prices are ridiculous, but the actual science is usually sound.
People say pharmaceutical companies aren't interested in keeping you alive. Fine. Doctors usually are and they generally want to write prescriptions that help you.
Yeah I needed certain drugs from a young age. Does it suck? Sure. Are the anxiety meds needed in part due to environmental factors? Probably but also genes say I’d still need them. Would I much rather live now than a hundred years ago when one of these drugs I need was available and the condition it treats was treated with hitting children until they were too traumatized to disobey authority? No no I wouldn’t.