The Dangers of Polypharmacy in the Elderly
by Jennifer Bunn, RNA new Canadian study sheds light on a growing trend: the prescribing of multiple medications to seniors.
The study showed that almost 2/3 of Canadian senior citizens are taking more than 5 prescription medications; 1/5 of seniors were taking more than 10 medications, and 1/20 of seniors were taking more than 20 medications to treat conditions such as heart disease, arthritis, high blood pressure and Alzheimer’s disease.
Polypharmacy in adults, especially seniors, can be cause for concern due to the fact that there can be significant interactions between drugs. Seeing more than one physician or having prescriptions filled at more than one pharmacy adds to this risk, as doctors and pharmacists may be unaware of other drugs a patient may be taking.
Part of the reason for the study was to examine which drugs were being prescribed the most often and which drugs have fallen out of favor. This is important to policy makers, who will have to determine where funding should be concentrated. What the study revealed was hardly surprising:
- Statins are the most commonly prescribed (almost 40% of seniors over age 65)
- Ace-inhibitors used to treat blood pressure are the second most popular (27% of seniors)
- Proton-pump inhibitors used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease are third in line (21% of seniors)
The fastest-growing drug classes are those that treat arthritis, COPD and Alzheimer’s.
Drugs that have fallen out of the popularity contest include Cox-2 inhibitors such as Vioxx (which was linked to heart disease) and HRT drugs, which were also linked to heart disease and breast cancer.
Polypharmacy is more common and is therefore a growing danger to seniors. Physicians, pharmacists and caregivers should be certain that medications are prescribed only as needed and reviewed regularly to ascertain whether they are still required.
