THE FACTS | Rational Therapeutics and Medication Policy Research Group

What we know now

Canadians are often prescribed multiple medications

In 2012, nearly two-thirds (65.9%) of seniors had claims for 5 or more drug classes under public drug programs, and more than one-quarter (27.2%) claimed 10 or more[1]
39.3% of Canadians age 85+ take 10 or more medications[2]
60.9% of Canadian seniors living in long-term care homes took 10 or more medications, compared to 26.1% living in the community[3]

Drug program spending continues to grow in Canada

In 2013, Canadians spent an estimated $34.5 billion on drugs, the majority of which (85.0%) was spent on prescribed drugs, at an estimated $29.3 billion[4]
Prescribed drugs accounted for an estimated 13.9% of total health expenditures[5]
About 68% of $4.4 billion spent in Canada in 2012 on public drug programs was on seniors age 65+[6]

Canadian seniors are often prescribed potentially inappropriate medications

In 2012, almost one-quarter of Canadian seniors on public drug programs used one potentially inappropriate medication from the Beers list and over 5% used multiple potentially inappropriate medications[7]
Almost one-in-ten seniors age 65+ on a public drug program was prescribed Lorazepam, a benzodiazepine, for anxiety, the most commonly prescribed drug on the Beers list of potentially inappropriate prescriptions due to the associated risk of falls and other adverse events[8]

Primary care practitioners prescribe the most and often have questions

Primary care practitioners prescribe about 85% of all prescription medications in Canada
A recent study found that clinicians raised 0.57 questions per patient seen and, of these questions, 34% were related to medication treatment[9]
A secondary analysis of the “Just-in-Time” information librarian consultation service database of questions asked by physicians, 52% of questions related to therapy; of these, 70.7% addressed questions about drug therapy, representing 37% of all questions[10].

Medication-related adverse health events cost us billions every year

Almost one-quarter of adverse events that patients present with in hospital are related to medication errors, according to the 2004 Adverse Events Study[11]

The cost to our health system per adverse health event related to medication use is over $4,000 with the total cost estimated at $400 million per year[12]

Prescription drug abuse as a public health crisis

Addiction is a potential side effect of prescription medication use; especially relating to the use of opioids (used to treat pain), benzodiazepines (used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders), and stimulants (used to treat attention deficit disorder)[13]
In 2012, 410,000 Canadians reported abusing prescription drugs like opioid pain relievers[14]
In 2015[15], over 80,000 Canadian teenagers used prescription drugs to get high[16]
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid medication used to treat pain, has drawn national attention in the past year due to the number of overdose deaths reported across Canada[17]
To promote the safe and effective use of opioid treatment for chronic non-cancer pain, researchers at the Michael G. DeGroote National Pain Centre recently published The 2017 Canadian Guideline for Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain, which updated the 2010 guideline using funding from Health Canada[18]