高齢者と処方薬剤 : 多剤併用療法の疫学調査を中心として

概要

論文の詳細を見る
The elderly constitute over 11 percent of the population of Japan and it is supposed that they will comprise over 16 percent by the year 2000 according to the statistical survey by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. They have larger burden of diseases compared with younger portions of the population and may suffer from two or more chronic illness, in addition to non-specific symptoms and aging process. A multiple pathology lead to various combinations of drugs in the prescription (polypharmacy). It has been discussed that polypharmacy was consistently associated with adverse reactions. It is likely that multiple pathology and the simultaneous administration of many drugs was highly correlated and more important than aging itself. We have also reported that elderly patients received more drugs than younger ones in both inpatients and outpatients. It is likely that institutionalized patients take drugs about two times than those attending to the institutes from our previous results. With respect to noncompliance, some studies have indicated that the higher incidence of medication-related problems including noncompliance was associated with a greater number of prescribed drugs. However, there may be other factors to explain noncompliance in the elderly. The responsibility and role of clinical pharmacists may be important to avoid the incidence of adverse reaction and to improve drug compliance in the elderly.
日本医療薬学会の論文
1990-02-20