Prescribing for the Elderly: Part II Prescribing Patterns: Differences Due to Age
Prescribing for the Elderly: Part II Prescribing Patterns: Differences Due to Age
复制标题
老年人处方：第二部分 处方模式：因年龄而异
DOI：
10.1111/j.1532-5415.1988.tb01809.x
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发表时间：
1988
影响因子：
6.3
通讯作者：
K. O'malley
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
L. Nolan;K. O'malley
or a variety of reasons, the extent of drug prescribing for patients of all ages is an important issue. Overprescribing can lead to increased F morbidity rather than an improvement in the quality of life. Furthermore, concurrent prescription of several drugs increases the risk of adverse reactions and drug interactions,2 and multiple drug therapy with complex drug regimens can lead to poor ~ompliance.~ Finally, the financial cost of drugs is a significant component of health expenditure. Because of alterations in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics with age and the increased prevalence of ill health, these problems may be accentuated in elderly patients. Indeed numerous reports and reviews have been published on the putative hazards of drug therapy in this age group4-l1 Again cost is an important factor since the elderly as a group are responsible for a disproportionate amount of the health bill in developed countries.5 While the consequences of extensive drug therapy have attracted much attention, few definitive studies have been carried out to examine the number and types of drugs prescribed for patients in different age groups. A detailed examination of the evidence reveals that our concept of extensive, inappropriate drug use in the elderly may be based on assumption rather than scientific fact. Analysis and interpretation of the data is facilitated by examination of the pattern of prescribing in the various health care settings and by taking into account the population samples studied. To this end, we classify
