Doctors over prescribing for the elderly
A major study has found that 400,000 Australians aged 70 or over were prescribed at least one drug in 2005 that is considered potentially harmful to the elderly – and for which there is a safer alternative.
The drugs most often implicated are long-acting benzodiazepines,
tranquillisers used to treat sleeplessness and anxiety. Specialists warn that these can increase confusion and drowsiness, leading to falls and broken bones.
Others include amitriptyline and doxepine, tri-cyclic antidepressants; miodarone, used for heart conditions; and oxybutynin, used for bladder ailments.
The drugs appear on a list developed by a panel of US experts to flag medicines, doses, or frequencies that should be avoided in the elderly. The so-called Beers-listed medicines are ineffective or put the elderly at higher risk of adverse effects.
The Australian study, published in the Internal Medicine Journal, iewed medicines dispensed to more than 192,000 veterans and war widows. It found 21% had been prescribed at least one of the potentially harmful medicines in the first six months of 2005.
Dr Elizabeth Roughead, associate professor in pharmacy at the Sansom Institute, at the University of South Australia, said: “These results are disturbing, and once again reaffirm the need for more to be done to prevent adverse drug events. Between 85,000 and 110,000 Australians over 65 are admitted to hospital each year because of adverse reactions to prescribed drugs”. Many of the admissions were preventable.
