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October 20, 2022 — On average, seniors use more drugs than any other age group in Canada. This release describes the number and most common types of drugs prescribed to seniors (including those living in long-term care settings) between 2017 and 2021 by sex, age, neighbourhood income and geographic location.

Key findings

• Drugs to treat cardiovascular disease accounted for 5 of the 7 top drug classes prescribed to seniors in 2021.
• Drugs to treat diabetes saw the largest increase in use among seniors between 2017 and 2021, increasing from 20.1% to 21.4% (representing 220,000 seniors).
• The use of antidepressants reached 23.4% in 2021 compared with 22.3% in 2019. This represents approximately 140,000 more seniors being prescribed an antidepressant since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In 2021, seniors living in a long-term care setting were 3 times more likely to be prescribed an antidepressant or benzodiazepine, and 8 times more likely to be prescribed an antipsychotic, compared with seniors living in the community.
• The average number of drugs prescribed to seniors decreased in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (from 2019 to 2020) while the number of drugs prescribed for chronic conditions remained stable.
• The prescribing of antibiotics has decreased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, from 38.6% prior to the pandemic to 30.5% in 2021 (representing 380,000 fewer seniors prescribed antibiotics).