CDC says in a new report that prescription drug use in the U.S. has been rising steadily in the past ten years and the trend displays no signs of slowing.

The study was published in the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief No. 42. The study says that the percentage of Americans who took at least one prescription drug in the increased from 43.5 percent in
1999-2000 to 48.3 percent in the year 2007-2008 period.

The use of two or more drugs rose from 25.4 percent to 31.2 percent over the same ten years and the use of five or more prescription medications increased from 6.3 percent to 10.7 percent.

Charles F. Dillon, MD, PhD, of the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, and colleagues reported in a data brief. Dillon said that he and his colleagues "thought this was just incredible," and noted that the finding is particularly worrisome in the older population.

He said that there was a need for more research in this trend because it is ‘really’ a concern.