Polypharmacy: an ongoing problem

There’s been a lot of attention of late regarding the very serious opiod crisis. But I think it’s important to keep in mind the issue of polypharmacy and elders. The Washington Post ran this article, The other big drug problem: Older people taking too many pills, which opens with this “[c]onsider it America’s other prescription drug epidemic.” The article offers sobering statistics

Researchers estimate that 25 percent of people ages 65 to 69 take at least five prescription drugs to treat chronic conditions, a figure that jumps to nearly 46 percent for those between 70 and 79. Doctors say it is not uncommon to encounter patients taking more than 20 drugs to treat acid reflux, heart disease, depression or insomnia or other disorders.

In fact, some elders have health issues from polypharmacy, some which are preventable,  according to the article. The polypharmacy problems can create a vicious cycle for some folks for whom  “the side effects of drugs are frequently misinterpreted as a new problem, triggering more prescriptions, a process known as a prescribing cascade.” Often, a hospitalization and new meds on top of the existing ones contribute to the problem.  Evidently the problem of polypharmacy, although not new, is increasing.  The article explains that some doctors are engaging in what is referred to as “deprescribing” which is explained as “systematically discontinuing medicines that are inappropriate, duplicative or unnecessary.” The article explains a number of hurdles to this goal, including lack of research, time constraints, advertising and just changing the status quo.

This is a really interesting article and worth the read!