ADRs, or Adverse Drug Reactions, continue to plague the efforts of the medical industry. Every day, thousand of people suffer from ADRs, some of which are expected, some aren’t. Research shows that people who take 2 medications have a 6% chance of having an ADR, 5 medications carries a 60% chance, and 8 medications a 100% chance.
While most people don’t take 5 or 8 medications, many elderly people do. For every dollar spent on medications in a nursing home, $1.33 is spent on treating ADRs. This “treatment for the treatment” equates to over 4 billion dollars annually.
The cost of drug-related morbidity was 177 billion dollars in 2000. That’s a 100 billion dollar increase from 1995.
The definition of “polypharmacy” is anyone who takes 9 or more medications routinely (daily). This applies to 27% of elderly people in nursing homes.
“Our elderly people are being drugged to death,” according to Marie O’Connor, Ph.D.
In 2006, the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded annual ADRs hospitalized more than 700,000 people. Of those, 106,000 died.
To date, there have been no reported deaths from vitamins. Ever.
Todd Stebleton 