How Seniors Are Affected by Medication-Related Problems

“Too often, illness in older people is misdiagnosed, overlooked, or dismissed as the normal process of aging, simply because health professionals are not trained to recognize how diseases and drugs affect older people.”
(Murphy 1999)

Medication-related problems in seniors can cause, aggravate, or contribute
to common and costly geriatric problems, including:

• Confusion
• Delirium/hallucinations
• Depression
• Dizziness
• Drowsiness
• Falls
• Incontinence
• Insomnia
• Loss of coordination
• Malnutrition/dehydration
• Memory loss
• Other psychiatric problems

Which can lead to:

• Decreased quality of life
• Emergency room visits
• Hip fractures and other physical disabilities
• Hospitalization
• Loss of functional ability
• Loss of independence
• Nursing facility placement
• Physician visits
• Death

Senior care pharmacists identify, resolve, and prevent medication-related problems
through careful evaluation and monitoring of patients’ medication regimens. Click
here to find a senior care pharmacist in your area.

References
Adapted from Fick DM, Cooper JW, Wade WE, Waller JL, Maclean JR, Beers MH.
Updating the Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in
Older Adults. Results of a U.S. Consensus Panel of Experts. Arch Intern Med
2003; 161-2721.

Gurwitz J., Monane M., Monane S., Avorn J. Long-Term Care Quality Letter.
Brown University. 1995.

Murphy J. Senate Special Committee on Aging. quoted in The Washington
Post, May 30, 1999.

To find a Senior Care Pharmacist, click here.