Drinking lots of unnecessary drugs can lead to death

One-third of elderly patients may be unnecessarily prescribing, putting them at risk of having side effects and spending a lot of money each year.

A study evaluated on 1,800 patients aged 75 years at the NHS (National Health Service) Croydon showed that on average each patient was prescribed 6 different drugs. However, after a reevaluation, hundreds of prescriptions were canceled with one-third of patients removing at least one drug.

Hundreds of prescriptions were stopped because they were no longer effective and many patients were experiencing side effects or adverse reactions. Of the 121 patients submitted for evaluation, 89 patients needed to reduce the dose of the drug.

The most common drugs that are stopped are: blood thinners warfarin and clopidogrel, aspirin, alendronic acid for osteoporosis; cetirizine for hay fever and allergies; laxido for constipation; omeprazole for gastroesophageal reflux and adcal-d3, a calcium and vitamin booster medicine.

On average, each patient is prescribed with six different drugs.(Illustration).

The study, conducted by the Interface Clinical Services pharmaceutical consulting agency, predicts that these changes will help NHS save up to £ 192,000 per year. However, there are up to five million people over the age of 75, which indicates cost savings across the country if every patient is assessed for drug use that can reach millions of pounds.

Charities say the use of too many drugs (defined as treatments used on five drugs, regardless of the duration of treatment), in which patients are prescribed too many drugs becoming an increasing problem.

Caroline Abrahams, Director of Charity in Age UK said: "We know that the more you take, the greater the risks you suffer, such as the risk of dizziness and falling. This is Because of what happens when different drugs interact and in the worst situations, the elderly can even die in hospitals. "

"This will be an increasing problem as the age of the population with three million elderly people is estimated to regularly take more drugs by 2018. Therefore, the problem is always to assess the drugs that the elderly "Regular drinking is extremely important because the older they are, the more drugs are prescribed and the more serious it is to consider this," Abrahams said.

Using too many drugs increases the risk of hospitalization for older people.(Photo: Telegraph).

Katherine Murphy, executive director of The Patients Association, added: " The Patients Association has been aware of the problem patients are prescribed too many different drugs, usually with a symptom-relieving medication. The lack of regular, sometimes several-year-long assessments of patients' drug use should be of great concern, especially for vulnerable elderly people. welcome all initiatives to improve this situation for the safety of patients, and the study emphasizes that these drugs are often unnecessary, may have unnecessary cost and benefit limitations. ".

Currently, four out of five people over the age of 75 or more must take at least one prescribed drug and patients who take many drugs are likely to suffer side effects and adverse reactions from the drug. Adverse reactions and side effects from drugs accounted for 5% to 17% of hospitalizations.

An Interface spokesman said: "The number of patients admitted to the hospital due to drug-related side effects is a clear and stable number. By implementing clinical assessments in the issue of practice Health, Interface is trying to help patients over 75 to reduce drug-related side effects and thereby reduce the burden placed on health care services ".

The study was presented at the Royal College of GPs conference held annually in the UK.