Most US Adults Regularly Use OTC and Prescription Medication

Nearly two-thirds of US adults—approximately 62.3%—reported using at least 1 OTC or prescription medication within a single 7-day period, according to a study in JAMA Network Open.¹

This snapshot of actual usage, rather than just dispensing records, underscores a deep national reliance on pharmacological therapies and highlights the critical role pharmacists play in managing the complex continuum of care, where patients often blend self-directed and clinician-guided treatments.²

“OTC and prescription medications are vital to everyday living for many people, with 81% of adults in the US using at least 1 OTC medication, prescription medication, or vitamin, mineral, or herbal supplement in the past week, and 64.8% of US adults taking at least 1 prescription medication annually,” wrote the authors of the study.¹ “In 2024, OTC medication sales were estimated at $44.3 billion, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) estimated prescription drug expenditure exceeded $463 billion.”

The current research, which surveyed 21,000 adults between 2023 and 2024, found that the prevalence of OTC use at 46% is nearly identical to that of prescription medication use at 46.3%. For the pharmacy profession, these figures represent a call to action for more vigilant medication therapy management (MTM), as patients increasingly navigate a crowded marketplace of potent medications on their own.^1,3

READ MORE: Pharmacists Guide Patients as Prescription Drugs Move Over the Counter

The 3 most commonly used medications in America remain unchanged from patterns observed 25 years ago—acetaminophen (29.4%), ibuprofen (22.3%), and aspirin (15.8%). Although these staples are available without a prescription, their ubiquity presents significant risks that pharmacists are uniquely positioned to mitigate.

The Risks Arising in OTC and Prescription Drug Use

There are more than 600 OTC and prescription products that contain acetaminophen, making duplication of therapy a constant hazard.³ This risk is particularly acute for the 16.3% of adults who reported taking 5 or more medications in a single week, a figure that rises sharply with age.¹

CDC data further supports this trend, showing that the percentage of people taking 5 or more prescription drugs has increased from 9.2% to 11.7% over the last 2 decades. Among adults aged 65 and older, this polypharmacy—concurrently using 5 or more medications—is even more prevalent, with 43% falling in this category.⁴

This high volume of medication use has direct clinical consequences that pharmacists must address to prevent adverse drug events (ADEs). In the older adult population alone, OTC-related ADEs cause approximately 100,000 hospitalizations in the US annually. Despite these risks, about 93% of adults prefer treating minor symptoms with OTC medications before consulting a healthcare provider, and 81% use them as a first-line treatment.³

To improve safety, some pharmacies have experimented with senior sections that redesign aisles to place medications for older adults closer to the prescription counter—a move that researchers found increased the likelihood of pharmacists intervening in OTC product selection. Pharmacists are encouraged to look for the USP Verified Mark on dietary supplements and to educate families on the common misuse of products like dextromethorphan among adolescents.

The broader economic landscape of American health care also drives this reliance on the pharmacy counter.^1,2 According to IQVIA, the total volume of prescription medicine use reached 215 billion days of therapy in 2024.⁵

However, barriers to access remain significant; over half of new prescriptions for novel medicines go unfilled, largely due to high out-of-pocket costs and payer rejections. Interestingly, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) points out that many of the most-used medications today—such as naproxen, omeprazole, and cetirizine—were once prescription-only.² These Rx-to-OTC switches, as the pharmacy industry calls them, have expanded access to safe and effective treatments but have also shifted the burden of education and safety onto the pharmacist.

Pharmacist’s Role in Managing Multiple Medications

As pharmacy practice continues to evolve, the JAMA Network Open findings suggest that understanding “actual use” is vital for regulatory and public health surveillance.¹ Although newer legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act has begun to lower annual out-of-pocket costs for some Medicare patients, the fundamental challenge of managing a population that is increasingly self-medicating remains.⁵

Pharmacists must go beyond the traditional role of dispensing and embrace their position as essential educators who can decipher drug labels and prevent the dangerous overlaps that occur when a patient’s “past-7-day” medication list includes a dozen different active ingredients.^1,3

Most American adults are regularly using multiple medications, and they need the expert guidance of a pharmacist to do so safely and effectively.¹

“Past-7-day prevalence and patterns of OTC and prescription medications demonstrate the magnitude of US reliance on these important therapies and highlight the importance of accessibility,” concluded the authors of the JAMA Network Open study. “Continued monitoring is necessary to detect changes in medication use and to measure the impact of regulatory decisions or other changes that may affect medication access.”

READ MORE: OTC Resource Center

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REFERENCES

1. Green JL, Dailey-Govoni T, Kalidindi SD, et al. Prevalence of over-the-counter and prescription medication use in the US. JAMA Netw Open. 2026;9(2):e2559479. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.59479

2. OTC medicines play central role in how Americans manage health, new study finds. News Release. Consumer Healthcare Products Association. February 18, 2026. Accessed March 5, 2026. https://www.chpa.org/news/2026/02/otc-medicines-play-central-role-how-americans-manage-health-new-study-finds

3. Gershman J. Knowing which OTC drugs patients are taking is vital. Pharmacy Times. 2022;88(8). Accessed March 5, 2026. https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/knowing-which-otc-drugs-patients-are-taking-is-vital

4. Prescription drug use. CDC. August 6, 2024. Accessed March 5, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/topics/rx-drug-use.htm

5. Understanding the use of medicines in the U.S. 2025. IQVIA. April 30, 2025. Accessed March 5, 2026. https://www.iqvia.com/insights/the-iqvia-institute/reports-and-publications/reports/understanding-the-use-of-medicines-in-the-us-2025