【全文翻译】
US Prescription Drug Use Up, Study Finds; Is There Link to Obesity?
研究发表明美国处方药使用量增加，这是否与肥胖有关？
Americans are taking more prescription medicines than ever before.
与过去相比，美国人正在服用更大剂量的处方药。
What's more, an increasing number of Americans are taking more than one drug, mostly to treat diseases related to obesity.
并且，服用不止一种药的美国人数量正在持续增加，大多是针对有关肥胖症的治疗。
These were the findings of a study led by Elizabeth Kantor at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
这是由位于波士顿的哈佛大学公众健康中心的 Elizabeth Kantor领导的研究结果。
Kantor, now at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, found that the increase was particularly notable among adults 65 and up.
Kantor，现在就职于纽约的纪念Sloan Kettering癌症中心，发现65岁及以上的服用处方药的人数有显著增长。
This is the population most likely to need prescriptions to control heart disease and high blood pressure, but Kantor said age wasn't the only factor behind the increase.
处于这个年龄段的人大多需要处方药来抑制心脏病与高血压，然而Kantor表示年龄并不是服用处方药增多的唯一因素。
The researchers looked at patient data for close to 40,000 people, some as young as 20.
研究者们观察了接近四万病人的相关数据，其中一些人只有20岁。
"When we look at drugs taken to control high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, depression, we see increases in all of those drug classes," Kantor said.
Kantor说：“当我们观察用来控制高血压、糖尿病、胆固醇、抑郁症的药物时，我们同样看到了使用量的增加。”
Kantor offered no opinion about why prescriptions to control depression have increased, but noted that other studies have shown a link between diabetes, heart disease and depression.
Kantor并没有就抑制抑郁症的处方药增加作出说明，但是提到其他研究发现处方药与糖尿病、心脏病与抑郁症有一定联系。
The researchers found that one of the most common drugs prescribed is simvastatin, a statin that lowers the risk of stroke and heart attack in people with diabetes and heart disease.
研究人员发现最常用的处方药是斯伐他汀，一种抑制素能够降低糖尿病、心脏病患者中风或者突发心脏病的风险。
Kantor's team looked at the data from two years of medical records, a decade apart: 1999-2000 and 2011-2012.
Kantor的团队查阅了两年的医疗记录，相隔十年：1999-2000与2011-2012.
Overall, the number of Americans taking prescription drugs increased 9 percent over that decade.
总的来说，服用处方药的美国人比十年前增加了九个百分点。
Fifty-nine percent of Americans — about three out of every five people — are taking prescription medications for some reason.
百分之五十九的美国人，大约每五个中有三个人，就在因为某种原因服用处方药。
Those taking more than one medication almost doubled in 10 years.
那些服用不止一种药物的人在十年中几乎翻了一番。
Taking multiple drugs raises the risk of negative drug interaction, such as unexpected side effects.
服用多种药会增加药物彼此间产生负面效果的风险，比如不可预测的交错反应。
"When we look at the 10 most commonly used drugs in 2011-2012," Kantor said, "most of these drugs are taken for conditions associated with cardiovascular disease, as well as the factors contributing to cardiovascular disease, such as obesity."
Kantor说：“当我们观察2011-2012年间最常用的十种药物时，它们中的大部分是应用于与心血管相关的疾病，同时也是导致心血管疾病的因素之一，比如肥胖。”
The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
这项研究被刊发在美国医学会的期刊上。
It did not address whether prescription drug use is increasing around the world, or whether the need for these medications is growing, but the World Health Organization says obesity has more than doubled globally in the past 35 years, and diabetes is considered epidemic in many countries.
这并不能证明处方药的使用或者对处方药的需求是否在世界范围内有增长，但是世界健康组织认为在过去三十五年间肥胖问题在世界范围内翻了不止一番，并且糖尿病像传染病一般在多个国家蔓延。
WHO says obesity is particularly problematic in urban areas and that diabetes will be the seventh-leading cause of death by 2030.
世界健康组织认为肥胖症在城市地区尤为显著，同时糖尿病在2030年将成为第七大致死原因。
【短语学习】
diseases related to obesity
offer no opinion
show a link between
lower the risk of
three out of every five people
negative drug interaction
