MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Women are taking more medications than researchers previously thought -- often without telling their doctors, a University of Minnesota study shows.
In a 42-month long, three-step study of 570 women, researchers found 92 percent of those interviewed took prescription medications, 97 percent took an over-the-counter drug and 59 percent used herbal supplements.
Researchers also found patients may not mention medications to the physician unless that doctor had prescribed the drug even though some medications are believed to have potentially strong interactions.
For example, antibiotics are thought to reduce the effect of birth control medications.
The authors said it is a responsibility of both the doctor and the patient to be aware of what medications are being taken.
"The care providers need to ask, and patients need to tell. Neither one is doing a good job," said Timothy Tracy, a professor at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy and one of the article's authors.
