Older people’s ‘meds’ usage rises
Medicine use by middle-aged and older people has sky-rocketed, raising the risk of dangerous side effects. The study found nearly half of the people aged 50 years or older reportedly take at least five drugs or supplements on a typical day. Cholesterol-lowering treatment use has increased six-fold since 1995.
Medicine use by middle-aged and older people has sky-rocketed, raising the risk of dangerous side effects.
The study found nearly half of the people aged 50 years or older reportedly take at least five drugs or supplements on a typical day.
Cholesterol-lowering treatment use has increased six-fold since 1995, the federal government-funded survey found, while the proportion of people taking an antidepressant has nearly trebled – to one in 10 of the 1,600 participants.
AAP reports fish oil tablets for heart disease prevention and glucosamine, used to treat arthritis, are just as widely used as the most popular prescription drugs.
“People are using them as mainstream medicines. That really did surprise me,” Lynn Weekes, chief executive of the National Prescribing Service, writes in an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia this Monday (16 January 2012).
Women are shown as bigger medicine users than men, with one-third of those aged over 75 years taking 10 or more types a day.
“We’re in the era now of the baby boomers and that means people will be taking medicines to keep well and prevent illness,” Dr Weekes says.
“Doctors frequently recommended natural supplements, but these had to be bought at the full price as they were not subsidised.
Experts say much of the increased medicine use is warranted as it preserves the health of an ageing population, however warned that frail elderly people may be “causing substantial harm, in excess of the benefits”.
