TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Addressing Polypharmacy & Improving Medication Adherence in Older Adults A1 - Sengstock, David A1 - Zimmerman, Jonathan A2 - Williams, Brie A. A2 - Chang, Anna A2 - Ahalt, Cyrus A2 - Chen, Helen A2 - Conant, Rebecca A2 - Landefeld, C. Seth A2 - Ritchie, Christine A2 - Yukawa, Michi PY - 2014 T2 - Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Geriatrics, 2e AB - Older adults are the largest consumers of prescription drugs. A large survey reported that more than one-half of patients 57–85 years old used at least 5 prescription medications, nonprescription medications, and nutritional supplements. Predictably, the number of medications steadily increased with the age of the patient. This survey also reported that 1 in 20 of these patients risked a major drug–drug interaction; half of these interactions included a nonprescription agent. Research demonstrates that polypharmacy is an independent risk factor for adverse outcomes, including hospitalization, nursing home placement, hypoglycemia, falls and fractures, pneumonia, and malnutrition, and death. Older adults are also generally less tolerant to the effects of a medication. This intolerance can manifest as an exaggerated effect of a medication or even a different effect as compared to younger patients, and is described at length in Chapter 9, “Principles of Prescribing for Older Adults.” SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/10/12 UR - accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1100069326 ER -