Dr. Gabor Maté on statistics: what the evidence says · JRE #1869

What the evidence says 01 / RECORD

Maté's figures echo a widely cited 2013 Mayo Clinic/Olmsted Medical Center study (Mayo Clinic Proceedings), which found that 68.1% of a defined American population (all ages, not just adults) received a prescription from at least one drug group in 2009, and 51.6% received prescriptions from two or more drug groups, 21.2% from five or more. Maté's 70% figure is a close, if slightly rounded-up, restatement of that widely reported 68.1% statistic, but his 40%-on-two-or-more figure understates the study's actual finding of 51.6%. A separate, methodologically distinct NHANES-based JAMA study found that 59% of US adults aged 20+ reported using at least one prescription drug in the prior 30 days as of 2011-2012, somewhat lower than 70% because it measures a 30-day recall window rather than a full year of pharmacy records; the same study found polypharmacy (5+ drugs) at 15%. Both studies confirm that a majority of Americans use at least one prescription medication and that a substantial share use multiple, though the exact percentages vary by data source, year, and methodology. The claim is broadly consistent with published research on medication prevalence, though it conflates a study population that included minors with "American adults," and its 40% figure for two-or-more medications is lower than what either underlying study actually reports.