What’s in your medicine cabinet?

Every year IMS Health Inc. compiles a list of the most-prescribed medications. With baby boomers making up the largest contingent of people needing drugs, many of the medicines on the top-10 list for 2008 address problems ailing the older generation. What’s perhaps not surprising, however, is that Hydrocodone (Vicodin or Lortab) tops the list, with 124 million prescriptions written—significantly more than the 97 million written in 2004. Here’s the list of the top 10 drugs prescribed in 2008:

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Drug Use Hydrocodone (Vicodin) Pain Lisinopril Hypertension Simvastatin Cholesterol Levothyroxine Hypothyroidism Lipitor Cholesterol Azithromycin Antibiotic Amoxicillin Antibiotic Hydrochlorothiazide Hypertension Amlodipine Hypertension Furosemide Heart failure/edema