Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Hargrove Tennessee 2nd Most Medicated State, Study Says
Posted by Brantley Hargrove on Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 9:34 AM
At a rate of 16.9 prescriptions filled per capita, we might as well be named honorary apothecaries and begin running pharmacies out of our bathrooms. The only problem is we need our drugs. Desperately. Because 65.9 percent of us are obese. The national average is 60. The heart disease death rate in Tennessee is 220 per 100,000 of us versus 190 nationally. Ten percent of us have diabetes. Eight percent is the average.
In just 10 years, the number of prescriptions filled in this country has risen nearly 40 percent. Spending on prescriptions is six times what it was in 1990. Are we really that much fatter, that much more sedentary, more diseased than we were in the ’90s? Probably not. Are prescription drug sales reps sweetening the pot for some doctors to push their company's scripts? Are prescription drug companies spending untold billions pushing drugs on us using gauzy pastoral scenes and earnest-looking faces — which, really, is the mass-market equivalent of a tranquilized-looking club rat with too much hair gel hawking Xanax bars in the bathroom? (After all, the strobe lights and the sweaty bodies make you anxious, so maybe you need it.)
Anyway, rounding out the list of over-prescribed states are the usual Southern/Appalachian suspects: West Virginia took first place, followed by us, Alabama, Kentucky, etc.
Comments (12)
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I detect a noticeably anti-pharmacology bent to Brantley's post.
While I'm certain massive spending on drug advertisement is a contributing factor to the increase in 'scripts, I'd also imagine the aging of baby-boomer generation has just as much to do with it.
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Uh, Tobin, the baby-boomer generation isn't just aging in Tennessee. Shockingly, they're aging all over the country. The fact that Tennessee is No. 2 isn't affected at all by the aging of Baby Boomers.
@Jack: This is what I was commenting on.
"In just 10 years, the number of prescriptions filled in this country has risen nearly 40 percent. Spending on prescriptions is six times what it was in 1990. Are we really that much fatter, that much more sedentary, more diseased than we were in the ’90s? Probably not"
Tobin, if you think I'm going to pass up an opportunity to twist and misinterpret your words so that I can razz you, think again!
"I detect a noticeably anti-pharmacology bent to Brantley's post."
Keep in mind, I'm not one of those anti-pill zealots who believes that everything can be cured with a helping of cod liver oil. But it's clear that more prescription drugs are doled out these days and I don't think Baby Boomers can account for such a massive rise. Also, I've always reflexively believed that direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs is totally improper.
I think this exposes the "war" on the so-called "problem" of prescription drug "abuse" as what it is.. It is a war on poor people and a barrier to people needing medicinal help. The wealthy have more conveniences, less cause to get sick, as well as the ability to take time off, pay for yoga and physical therapy. The poor have to medicate some problems in order to continue working and survive. But by acting like the meds are the problem, we put artificial barriers up to poor people. I find it interesting that the "problem" drugs are always the ones that have been around long enough to go generic. Of course, the drug industry has some newer, much more expensive stuff that doesn't have those problems -- and you can be sure it won't, not until the patent expires at least.
"Also, I've always reflexively believed that direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs is totally improper."
I agree with this 100%.
I'm not on any medications, and these numbers just make me feel like a sucker. I could be high right now!
The poorer you are, the harder and longer you MUST try to keep working. Take the drugs to keep going at any cost. A vicious cycle for a myriad of Tennesseans. Yet I agree that no one wants to deal with the real cause -- the loss of decent wage work for Tennesseans that would allow so many to lead the healthier lifestyles.
Tennessee needs to hold negligent doctors that over prescribe held accountable for their actions and stop enabling drug addicts. My mom was only 50 when she died. She had been treated at a pain clinic for over 10 yrs and was highly addicted to morphine. Her doctor was her "primary care provider" at the pain clinic but remarkably had no hospital affilation. He did nothing while meanwhile my mom's body caught up with her addiction. She suffered respiratory arrest. Now as an only child at age 34 I am left parentless and my last living grandparent died two yrs prior for the exact same thing. We need to do something about this.
