Chart 1
Prevalence of the three prescription medications most commonly used in the past month, by age group, sex and medication class, Canadians aged 18 to 79, 2016 to 2019

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Age group: 18 to 39 Age group: 40 to 59 Age group: 60 to 79 Sex: Males Sex: Females Overall 0 10 20 30 40 50 % Treatment of mood disorderTreatment of mood disorder Treatment of high blood cholesterolTreatment of high blood cholesterol Treatment of high blood pressureTreatment of high blood pressure
Note(s):
For the 18-to-39 age group, data for the treatment of high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure were too unreliable to be published (data with a coefficient of variation greater than 33.3%; suppressed because of extreme sampling variability). The prevalence of prescription medication groups was classified by the most common Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical codes: treatment of high blood pressure (C02-antihypertensives, C03-diuretics, C07-beta blocking agents, C08-calcium channel blockers, and C09-agents acting on the renin-angiotensin system), treatment of high blood cholesterol (C10-lipid modifying agents) and treatment of mood disorder (N06-psychoanaleptics).
Source(s):
Canadian Health Measures Survey (5071), Cycle 5 (2016 and 2017) and Cycle 6 (2018 and 2019).

Chart description


This is a bar clustered chart.

Prevalence of the three prescription medications most commonly used in the past month, by age group, sex and medication class, Canadians aged 18 to 79, 2016 to 2019, %
  Treatment of mood disorder Treatment of high blood cholesterol Treatment of high blood pressure
Age group: 18 to 39 8    
Age group: 40 to 59 11 10 14
Age group: 60 to 79 13 34 42
Sex: Males 7 15 18
Sex: Females 14 9 14
Overall 10 12 16
Note(s):
For the 18-to-39 age group, data for the treatment of high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure were too unreliable to be published (data with a coefficient of variation greater than 33.3%; suppressed because of extreme sampling variability). The prevalence of prescription medication groups was classified by the most common Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical codes: treatment of high blood pressure (C02-antihypertensives, C03-diuretics, C07-beta blocking agents, C08-calcium channel blockers, and C09-agents acting on the renin-angiotensin system), treatment of high blood cholesterol (C10-lipid modifying agents) and treatment of mood disorder (N06-psychoanaleptics).
Source(s):
Canadian Health Measures Survey (5071), Cycle 5 (2016 and 2017) and Cycle 6 (2018 and 2019).
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