Docusate

Drug Usage Statistics, United States, 2014 - 2023

Docusate Summary for 2023

Top drug rank #148 (0)
Estimated number of prescriptions in the United States (2023) 3,798,215
Estimated number of patients in the United States (2023) 1,680,843
 
Average total drug cost (USD)  
Per prescription $5.15
Per day of therapy $0.17/day
Average out-of-pocket cost (USD)  
Per prescription $2.99
Per day of therapy $0.10/day

Total Prescriptions and Patients Per Year (2014 - 2023)

Rank of Top Drugs Over Time

"Rank" refers to the frequency that a given medication is prescribed within a calendar year compared to all other medications. A rank of "4" would indicate that the medication was the fourth most commonly prescribed medication.

Year Rank Change
2014 114  19
2015 97  17
2016 129  32
2017 123  6
2018 146  23
Year Rank Change
2019 188  42
2020 163  25
2021 133  30
2022 148  15
2023 148 0

Drug Cost Over Time (2014 - 2023)

  • Cost Per Prescription Fill: Average cost per filled prescription regardless of how many days of therapy the prescription is filled for (e.g. 10 days, 30 days, 90 days, etc.)
  • Cost per Day of Therapy: The average cost per prescription fill divided by the days of therapy. For example, a 10-day antibiotic course costing $30 would be $3 per day. Similarly, a 30-day supply of an oral antihypertensive costing $30 would be $1 per day.

  • Total cost: The average total cost of the medication including the out-of-pocket cost (see below) plus the amount paid by other parties (Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, Veterans Administration, TRICARE, other state/federal sources, Worker's compensation, and other miscellaneous sources)
  • Out-of-pocket cost: The average payment made by the patient which may include deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, or the cash price paid without insurance coverage.

Cost Per Prescription Fill (USD)

Cost Per Day of Therapy (USD/day)

Distribution of Dispensed Dosage Forms (2023)

Dosage Form Strength % of Dispensed Products
Tablet/capsule 100 mg 88.5%
Tablet/capsule 250 mg 10.7%
Other, unspecified, or misc. 0.8%

Distribution of Days Supplied (2023)

"Days supply" is defined as the number of days that a prescription should last. For example, a prescription of 60 tablets that is taken twice daily has a day supply of 30 days.

Related Drugs

Therapeutic Classes

Drug Synonyms

Drug synonyms are used during the sanitation and standardization process of "cleaning" the original data source (MEPS). Occassionally, brand names may be listed below that are no longer on the market or are very infrequently used.

Brand Name Synonyms
  • Basic Care Stool Softener
  • Betr Remedies Stool Softener
  • Clear Stool Softener
  • Colace
  • Colace Extra Strength
  • Cvs Health Stool Softener
  • Cvs Health Stool Softener Clear
  • Cvs Stool Softener
  • Docu Liquid
  • Docusate Mini Enema
  • Docusate Sodium - Stool Softener Laxative
  • Docusate Sodium 100mg
  • Docusate Sodium 100mg Two-tone
  • Docusate Sodium 50 MG
  • Docusate Sodium 50mg Softgel (Red)
  • Docusate Sodium Liquid
  • Docusate Sodium Softgels 50mg (Dye Free)
  • Docusate Sodium, Extra Strength
  • Docusol Kids
  • Dok
  • Dulcolax Pink Stool Softener
  • Dulcolax Stool Softener
  • Enemeez
  • Enemeez Kids
  • Exchange Select Stool Softener
  • Fleet
  • Gentle Relief Stool Softner
  • Gentle Stool Softener
  • Gericare Docusate Sodium Liquid
  • Good Neighbor Pharmacy Stool Softener
  • Good Neighbor Stool Softener
  • H E B Stool Softener
  • Heb Stool Softener
  • Kroger Stool Softener
  • Laxa-basic 100
  • Pedia-lax
  • Phillips Stool Softener
  • Preferred Stool Softener
  • Prolaxa
  • Promolaxin
  • Quality Choice Stool Softener
  • Rite Aid Stool Softener
  • Stool Softener
  • Stool Softener Docusate Sodium
  • Stool Softener Laxative
  • Stool Softener Regular Strength
  • Topcare Stool Softener
  • Walgreens Stool Softener
  • Winco Stool Softener
Generic Drug Synonyms and Salts
  • Docusate Calcium
  • Docusate Sodium
  • Docusate

FDA Approval Information

Established Pharmacologic Class (EPC): N/A
Initial FDA approval date: 1/7/1900
First FDA applicant: Atlantis Consumer Healthcare, Inc.
First dosage form: Capsule, Liquid Filled (oral)

Prescription data source: Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 2014-2023. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Rockville, MD. ClinCalc DrugStats Database version 2025.08. Read more about the ClinCalc DrugStats database.

All ClinCalc DrugStats figures and graphs on this page are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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