medpundit |
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Saturday, September 09, 2006He surveyed 695 people aged 78 to 86 living in sheltered housing. The poll revealed half were taking more than five different medicines a day, with one in five taking at least 12. Some 14% of the sample were using highly toxic medicines such as warfarin. Meanwhile, anti-inflammatory and blood pressure drugs taken by more than half the people had a high risk of side effects. That sounds about right. The more drugs a person takes, the more likely they are to have interactions. However, we have so many guidelines to meet to insure that everyone gets quality care, that it isn't so unusual anymore to have people on ten or twelve drugs. Their diabetes medication (often two or three) to keep their sugar at normal levels, their statin to keep their cholesterol within guidelines, their ACE inhibitor to protect their kidneys, the beta-blocker to protect their heart, and the Aricept for their dementia, and whatever other combination of medications to keep their blood pressure down to guideline levels. No one has ever stopped to ask if the benefits of reaching these guidelines exceeds the risks of these multiple drugs. posted by Sydney on 9/09/2006 09:13:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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