Elderly people are the main drug consumers in Western societies,
as multimorbidity seems to justify a high load of drugs to be
supplied to them. People above 65 years of age take an average of
five drugs, and this figure increases to almost ten drugs at the
age of 75. Serious adverse events (SAE) related to drug use are
considered to lead to 100,000 deaths per year in the United States.
The primary motivation of doctors resulting in polypharmacy is the
treatment of all diagnoses according to the guidelines which
recommend three drugs per disease, on average. The mean number of
diagnoses at age 80+ is 3.3, leading to ten drugs prescribed to
each elderly patient.
As this multimorbidity/polypharmacy challenge apparently leads
to therapies which are costly, ineffective and potentially harmful,
there is a need to structure drug load reduction approaches. This
must be coupled with the enormous and contradictory challenge of
undertreated diseases. The DETECT study on the prevalence of
hypertension in the Western world, for example, shows that 75% of
75-year-old patients required antihypertensive treatment, but only
20% were sufficiently treated.
The solution is rooted in the skills and experiences which lead
medicine in the pre-EBM era. Though the strengths of EBM are
indisputable, without evidence-based guidelines applicable to the
elderly, careful reasoninig, patient assessment, treatment
observation, and integration are the keys to success. "Drug Therapy
for the Elderly" provides the practitioner with:
- Background information on the elderly population regarding
their needs for particular drugs (with an eye to frailty,
co-morbidity patterns, and special sensitivities regarding drug
metabolism and excretion)
- Practical advice about drug treatment surveillance paramters
in the elderly
- In-depth discussion of drugs in relation to the elderly with
specific diagnoses
- Integration of multimorbidity/polypharmacy situations into
prioritization schems
- A plan for how to deal with the complexity of polypharmacy
situations in a five-minute consultation
An original classification of drugs is proposed by the editor
which relates the power of effects, prognostic data, and
tolerability to a prioritization scoring with labels ranging from A
(indispensible, clear-cut benefit for efficacy/safety ration proven
even in elderly patients for a given indiacation, unanimous
morbidity and/or mortality data) to D (avoid in elderly, delete
first). Whereas current lists intend to eliminate unsafe drugs for
the elderly, this novel approach underlines both indispensable and
dispensable elements of drug therapy. This approach is the first to
not only provide a negative liesting, but also integrates positive
data into an overall assessment for drugs fit for the aged.
The demographic revolution of an aging society will lead to
increased pressure to come to a rationalistic and age-tailored
process of diagnosing and treating increasingly complex situations
in the elderly. "Drug Therapy for the Elderly" is focused on the
most important treatment modality in medicine and serves as a
timely reference for a wide array of physicians.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
