Many drugs are used today for the prevention and treatment of diseases and other medical conditions. They are either prescribed by health care practitioners, including doctors and dentists, or are available over the counter without a prescription. More and more patients are also taking natural health products (e.g., herbal remedies and dietary supplements). Each of these drugs and natural health products can cause side effects or can react with other drugs.
Elderly patients tend to have medical conditions that require them to take multiple drugs (polypharmacy). With each additional medication taken, they are at increased risk of adverse reactions from side effects and from interactions between drugs. Polypharmacy can also make drug regimens complex and difficult to follow correctly.
The tips in Box 1 emphasize the importance of knowledge, communication and organization and should help patients minimize their risk of adverse reactions from polypharmacy.
Footnotes
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Polypharmacy is a major problem among elderly patients. In the spirit of helping patients and their families to better uderstand the problem and how to deal with it, we offer this special Public Health column, directed to a lay audience. We hope that you will share this article with anyone in your practice for whom the suggestions listed may be helpful. — Editor, CMAJ
Competing interests: None declared.
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