One in six U.S. adults used psychiatric drugs in 2013: report

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- One in six adult Americans used psychiatric drugs in 2013, according to a report.

"Overall, 16.7 percent of 242 million U.S. adults reported filling 1 or more prescriptions for psychiatric drugs in 2013," according to the report published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal.

Anti-depressants was most commonly prescribed, with 12 percent of adults reporting usage. Meanwhile, one in 12 adults took anxiolytics, sedatives and hypnotics, and almost one in 60 took antipsychotics.

The prescriptions were largely long-term, as nearly 85 percent having filled three or more prescriptions in 2013 with some indicating that they had started taking the drug during 2011 or earlier.

Based on the 2013 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the report also showed the differences by sex, age and race in adult utilization of psychiatric drugs.

"Large differences were found in race/ethnicity, with 20.8 percent of white adults reporting use," the report noted, adding that Hispanic, African- and Asian-Americans have relatively low rates of using psychiatric drugs.

People aged 60 to 85 years had a higher rate of psychiatric drug use than those aged 18-39, while women were more likely than men to take such drugs.

According to a U.S. government study, about one in five U.S. adults, or about 43.6 million nationwide, had mental health issues in 2014.

The overall rate of suicide in the United States increased by 24 percent between 1999 and 2014, according to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.