Overview
- A USC-led study published Sept. 24, 2026, in JAMA compared nationally representative surveys from 2015–2016 and 2021–2023 and found prescription polypharmacy rose from 31.0% to 35.7%.
- Dietary supplement polypharmacy also increased, climbing from 12.6% to 16.7% between the two study periods.
- The share of older adults with potentially major interacting drug regimens fell from 25.7% to 22.3% but remained above one in five in 2021–2023.
- Antidepressants, statins, and antiplatelet agents were the drug classes most often tied to major interactions; opioid and benzodiazepine interaction rates fell while muscle‑relaxant interactions rose from 1.35% to 2.49%.
- The authors cautioned the analysis could not detect actual adverse events and recommended clinician-led deprescribing, focused review of common interaction pairs, and system-level safety efforts to reduce harm for community-dwelling adults aged 62–85.