LONDON — A quarter of all adults in Britain take prescription medication for pain, anxiety, depression or insomnia, and half of those people had been taking the drugs for a year or more, according to a government report released this week.

The report, based on an analysis of prescription data in 2017 and 2018, is the first snapshot of prescription drug use in Britain. Though the numbers did not suggest the same degree of opioid abuse as in the United States, public health officials said the report underscored the need to find alternatives to prescribing medications.

“I’m incredibly concerned by this new evidence” of drug use among Britons, said the health secretary, Matt Hancock. “I refuse to let this escalate to the level seen in the United States. This review is a wake-up call.”

The study, by Public Health England, included prescriptions of five categories of drugs: opioid pain killers; antidepressants; benzodiazepines, a type of anxiety medication; a range of sleeping aids known as z-drugs; and gabapentinoids, which are used for neuropathic pain. The study analyzed prescription data and commissioned an assessment of associated harms, dependence and withdrawal.