TUESDAY, Dec. 23, 2008 (Health.com) — Many older adults in the United States are taking a confusing combination of medications, some prescribed by doctors and others picked up over-the-counter or in health food stores.
One in three adults age 57 to 85 is taking at least five prescription drugs, and half regularly use dietary supplements and over-the-counter drugs, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. While any single drug might help people live longer, healthier lives, experts worry that a combination of drugs, along with over-the-counter products and dietary supplements, could be a recipe for disaster in terms of drug interactions.
One in 25 people in the study, or about 2.2 million people, were taking a potentially risky combination of medications. That number jumped to one in 10 among men who were 75 to 85 years old.
For example, some people in the study were taking the blood thinner warfarin along with the cholesterol-lowering drug simvastatin, a combination that can increase the risk of bleeding. Others were taking warfarin and aspirin together, or ginkgo supplements with aspirin, which can also cause problems.
“Half of the interactions we saw increased the risk for bleeding, which could be fatal,” said Dima M. Qato, PharmD, of the University of Chicago.
An estimated 175,000 adults 65 and older visit the emergency room every year for treatment of adverse drug events, and about a third of these cases involve commonly used medications.
Next: Study participants on 15,000 different drugs and supplements
Comments (0)