Four out of five U.S. seniors regularly take at least one prescription drug and more than 50 percent take five or more over-the-counter drugs, prescription drugs or dietary supplements or, researchers said on Tuesday.

Each year, adults ages 65 or more account for over 175,000 emergency department visits for adverse drug reactions. The report, which was published in the Dec. 24/31 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, also revealed that frequently prescribed medications accounted for 33 percent of these drug reactions.

To carry out the study, Dima M. Qato, from the University of Chicago and colleagues used survey data about more than 3,000 adults aged 57 to 85. They looked for both over-the-counter and prescription drugs that have used from June 2005 to March 2006.
 
The report also disclosed the fact that one in 25 older adults in the U.S. take prescription pills, over-the-counter drugs or dietary supplements in combinations that could cause hazardous drug interactions. Men in the 75 to 85-year-old age group had the highest risk of using such interactions.

People are usually inclined to think that the medications and supplements they get over the counter “are safer than those that require prescriptions, but that is not necessarily true, especially when they are used in combination with prescription drugs," asserted Stacy Tessler Lindau, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and medicine at the University of Chicago.