The Overlap of Dietary Supplement and Pharmaceutical Use in the MIDUS National Study

Table 3

Demographic profiles (in %) for “high-users” (≥5) of prescription pharmaceuticals (Rx), “high-users” (≥5) of dietary supplements (DS), and study participants using ≥5 either Rx or DS.

Demographic characteristics	Total sample; (𝑛=3876)	“High-users” of Rx in the past 30 days; (𝑛=241)	“High-users” of DS “regularly”; (𝑛=333)	“High-users” of Rx or DS; (𝑛=546)	“High-users” of Rx and DS; (𝑛=28)
Gender
Female	55.7	68.5^a	65.2^a	66.7^a	35.7%^a,b
Mean age (SD)	56.2 (12.4)	61.7 (11.3)^a	59.2 (11.3)^ab	60.0 (11.4)^a	65.0 (10.2)^a
Median income	$27,500–$29,000	$2,000–$3,999	$18,000–$19,999	$10,000–$11,999	$1,000–$1,999
Education
HS-GED or less	59.7	52.7^a	25.8^ab	37.0	39.3^a
Some college	22.0	31.1	29.7	29.9	39.3^a
Bachelors+	18.2	16.2^a	44.4^ab	33.2^a	21.4

^a𝑃<0.05 when compared to the total sample (column 2).
^b𝑃<0.05 when “high-users” of DS are compared to “high-users” of prescription pharmaceuticals.