(p. D5) Dr. Caleb Alexander knows how easily older people can fall into so-called polypharmacy. Perhaps a patient, like most seniors, sees several specialists who write or renew prescriptions.
“A cardiologist puts someone on good, evidence-based medications for his heart,” said Dr. Alexander, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness. “An endocrinologist does the same for his bones.”
. . .
“Pretty soon, you have an 82-year-old man who’s on 14 medications,” Dr. Alexander said, barely exaggerating.
Geriatricians and researchers have warned for years about the potential hazards of polypharmacy, usually defined as taking five or more drugs concurrently. Yet it continues to rise in all age groups, reaching disturbingly high levels among older adults.
. . .
Ultimately, the best way to reduce polypharmacy is to overhaul our fragmented approach to health care. “The system is not geared to look at a person as a whole, to see how the patterns fit together,” Dr. Steinman said.
For the full commentary, see:
Span, Paula. “THE NEW OLD AGE; An Ever-Mounting Pile of Pills.” The New York Times (Tues., APRIL 26, 2016): D5.
(Note: ellipses added.)
(Note: the online version of the commentary has the date APRIL 22, 2016, and has the title “THE NEW OLD AGE; The Dangers of ‘Polypharmacy,’ the Ever-Mounting Pile of Pills.”)