As a society, our blood pressure is too high and we're way too depressed.
We're also in a lot of pain and our cholesterol is too high.
That's the conclusion to draw from an AARP Bulletin listing of the 50 most prescribed drugs in America.
Of the 50, nine different medications are related to hypertension (high blood pressure). According to the list, more drugs are described for high blood pressure than for any other ailment.
Placing a close second behind hypertension medication is medicine to combat depression. Eight different medications among the top 50 are related to depression.
The AARP Bulletin article from October noted that 10 percent of the nation's health care costs are related to prescription drugs.
And the AARP notes that while brand-name drugs make up 22 percent of the Top 50, they represent 62 percent of the $53.2 billion in health care costs attributed to prescription drugs.
The highest ranking brand medication was Lipitor for high cholesterol. While it ranked seventh in total prescriptions written in 2008 it had the greatest retail cost -- $5.88 billion.
Of the top 50 medicines, the number of prescribed cholesterol medications (4) placed fifth behind medicines for bacterial infections (6) and pain (5).
The list serves as a window to see just what ailments we Americans are trying to combat with prescriptions drugs.
Yes, it's hypertension and depression, and bacterial infections, pain and high cholesterol. But it's also ulcers, allergies, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, insomnia, asthma, blood clotting, muscle injury, epilepsy and anxiety.
And this isn't just Baby Boomers or seniors we're talking about here. These are drugs prescribed for everyone, young and old.
When it comes to the sheer number of prescriptions, at the top was a pain medicine - Hydrocodone, which, according to the AARP figures, had 121.3 million prescriptions last year for a total retail cost of $1.78 billion.
That's a lot of pain, folks.
Lisinopril for hypertension was No. 2 - 69.8 million prescriptions and $686 million in retail costs.
Simvastatin for high cholesterol was No. 3 with 60.2 billion prescriptions at a retail cost of $1.45 billion. Lipitor had 49 million prescriptions.
Hmmm, and not one erectile dysfunction medication in the bunch.
A list like that raises more questions than it answers. Are we really as sick as the list might lead us to believe? Are doctors over-prescribing? Are patients, responding to the constant barrage of pharmaceutical advertising on television, demanding medicine that might be able to do without by adjusting their lifestyles a bit?
Our medicines tell us a lot about ourselves, and, unfortunately, the story it seems to be telling isn't a very good one.
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