People in England's most deprived areas prescribed more medicines from early age

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

A large analysis of prescribing data in England shows that, by age 40, people in the least affluent areas are prescribed twice as many drugs as those in the most affluent.

People living in England's most deprived communities are given nearly twice as many medicines as those in the least deprived areas, starting earlier in life, a major study has found. Thousands of children are also taking multiple drugs from a very early age.

Researchers analysed 5.8 billion medicines dispensed to 52.6 million people in England between 2019 and 2024, and found clear differences linked to deprivation, ethnicity, sex and age.

Polypharmacy is increasingly common with age. By 50, around 15% of people have been dispensed at least five medicines concurrently

The study, published in Nature Health, found that that around 5% of three-year-olds had been dispensed three or more medicines within a three-month period, with 1% receiving five or more.