ADULTS AND MEDICINES
� More than 23 million Americans age 65 or older take, on average, between one and six or more prescription medicines each day.
� There are 35 million older Americans who take more than half of all prescription medications dispensed.
� The average person over 65 takes twice as many prescriptions as younger people.
� The frequency of adverse reactions increases as the number of drugs prescribed increases.
� Each year, more than 9 million adverse drug reactions occur in older Americans.
� Unwanted side effects of medicines are seven times more common in the elderly than in younger adults, and the likelihood of drug-drug interactions occurring is increased in the older patient.
� Nearly one-fourth of all nursing home admissions result from older people being unable to take their medications properly.
Key factors contributing to the improper use of prescription medicines among older Americans include:
� Poor communication between older patients and health professionals;
� Taking several medicines at the same time, including prescription and nonprescription medicines;
� Seeing and receiving prescriptions from more than one health care provider;
� With advancing age, the body�s response to medicine changes; and
� The inability to take the medication as prescribed.
Adults involved in the care of older parents should know:
� What medicines their parents take and for what conditions;
� How often are they supposed to take their medicines;
� Whether their parents feel the medicine is helping; and
� If there are any problems with the medicine.
Older patients taking multiple medicines should ask their health care providers about having a medicine "check up." It can help uncover problems they may be having taking their medicines, and it�s a good time for asking questions.
Years of training have made your pharmacist the health professional best qualified to help you understand the proper use of prescription and nonprescription drugs.
Talk to your pharmacist!
