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According a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, at least 20 percent of elderly Americans are being prescribed drugs that could possibly harm them. Using a compiled list of medications that are considered inappropriate for people over 65, called the Beers List, researchers from Duke University found that one in five patients over 65 who receive a prescription are prescribed one of these medications. In fact, over 15 percent of these patients receive prescriptions for two or more of these medications.
Scientists studied over 700,000 people who received prescriptions from all 50 states in the US. The most common drugs were the antidepressants amitriptyline and doxepin and the anti-anxiety drug diazepam. These made up almost a quarter of the prescriptions. Second most common were prescriptions for inappropriate muscle relaxants such as carisoprodol, chlorzoxazone and cyclobenzaprine.
Polypharmacy is the rule more often than the exception in elderly patients and the potential for toxic interactions of medications is greater. Also, drugs don't metabolize as well in people over 65 as they do in younger individuals and kidneys often don't function as well. While only 15 percent of the U.S. population is considered elderly, this group consumes one-third of all medications prescribed each year.
This study not only points out the need for an increased awareness of potential dangerous drug interactions in the elderly, but it also alerts us that this a much more prevalent issue than we would have believed.
Archives of Internal Medicine
The Beers List
National Library of Medicine Medication Drug Information
Duke University News
11:52:07 PM 
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