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Adverse drug reactions in older people

Part of: Bespoke shallow archive Weizmann

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 June 2010

B Tangiisuran ,
MP Gozzoli ,
JG Davies  and
C Rajkumar
B Tangiisuran*
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, UK
MP Gozzoli
Affiliation:
Borgo Trento Verona Hospital, Italy
JG Davies
Affiliation:
Pharmaceutical Science Division, King's College London, UK
C Rajkumar
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, UK
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Balamurugan Tangiisuran, Department of Medicine, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Falmer, UK. Email: [email protected]
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Summary

Adverse drug reactions (ADR) pose significant health-related problems for the older person. Many studies from around the world report a significant incidence of ADR in general and in elderly people in particular, resulting in an increase in drug-related morbidity and mortality. Older people appear to be particularly at risk of experiencing an ADR due to a range of factors, which include polypharmacy, altered drug pharmacokinetic profiles and pharmacodynamic responses, drug interactions and cognitive problems that increase the risk in this patient group. Certain drug classes, such as hypoglycaemic agents and cardiovascular active medicines, have been identified as common causes of ADR. Many studies suggest that the majority of ADR are preventable, so that several different approaches have been tried in an attempt to limit this problem, such as the use of computerized systems to communicate routine issues of patient care, interventions made by pharmacists, spontaneous reporting and continuous education of health care professionals. Whilst all have been shown to reduce drug-related events, identifying individuals at high risk of developing ADR at the point of prescribing by using a risk stratification model could improve the identification and prevention of ADR. This article discusses the clinical impact of ADR in older people and the relative merits of the various approaches tested to date before suggesting areas that require further research.

Keywords

adverse drug reactionsolder peopleadverse drug eventsdrug prescribingadverse event
Type
Psychological & social gerontology
Information
Reviews in Clinical Gerontology , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , August 2010 , pp. 246 - 259
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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