How Many Pills Are Too Many?

The idea of dropping unnecessary medications started cropping up in the medical literature a decade ago. In recent years, evidence has mounted about the dangers of taking multiple, perhaps unnecessary, medications.

 Looking to Tackle Prescription Overload

Older adults often take more medications than they need, or than is safe. Increasingly, geriatric experts and their patients are exploring the benefits of “deprescribing.”

 Overprescribed: High cost isn’t America’s only drug problem

Most of the attention has focused on just one side of the equation — prices. With politicians and advocates on both sides of the aisle vowing to lower drug prices, few people are talking about Americans being overprescribed medications, which not only adds to the cost of drugs but also harms millions of Americans each year.

 The Dangers of ‘Polypharmacy,’ the Ever-Mounting Pile of Pills

“We spend an awful lot of money and effort trying to figure out when to start medications,” Dr. Alexander said, “and shockingly little on when to stop.”

 Yes, drugs are overprescribed: but it’s not the fault of GPs

There is nothing new about overprescribing and the inevitable polypharmacy, which the pharmaceutical industry is not exactly eager to discourage. It has been a problem for decades. But the causes are mostly nothing to do with the GPs themselves.

Boomers have a drug problem, but not the kind you might think

Polypharmacy often means higher health care costs and more drug interactions. Patients are more likely to miss medications or stop taking them altogether. Sometimes, physical activity diminshes; falls, cognitive impairment, malnourishment and urinary incontinence increase; there may be less ability to do daily tasks. Those on five or more medications have a much higher incidence of having an ADE – an adverse drug event – compared to those using fewer meds.

Clinical Consequences of Polypharmacy in Elderly

Polypharmacy has been and always will be common among the elderly population due to the need to treat the various disease states that develop as a patient ages. Unfortunately with this increase in the use of multiple medications comes with an increased risk for negative health outcomes such as higher healthcare costs, ADEs, drug-interactions, medication non-adherence, decreased functional status and geriatric syndromes.

Do You Need All Those Meds? How To Talk To Your Doctor About Cutting Back

It's a common problem for many older adults. You may have more than one doctor and each prescribes a different drug for a different illness. Before you know it, you're taking multiple medications and start feeling tired, dizzy or nauseous. Your doctor interprets that as a new symptom for a new disease and prescribes yet another drug.

Older people on medley of medicines risk life-threatening harm

More is not always better, said the report. Doctors tend to add new tablets each time an elderly person develops another health condition, but without stopping the old ones.

The dangers of polypharmacy and the case for deprescribing in older adults

Inappropriate polypharmacy — the use of excessive or unnecessary medications — increases the risk of adverse drug effects, including falls and cognitive impairment, harmful drug interactions, and drug-disease interactions, in which a medication prescribed to treat one condition worsens another or causes a new one. Patients may be prescribed medicines that are unlikely to help, potentially harmful, or misaligned with the person’s health goals. Polypharmacy also creates a tremendous burden for patients and their families

The Risks of the Prescribing Cascade

The problem occurs when drug-induced side effects are viewed as a new ailment and treated with yet another drug that can cause still other side effects.

When Patients Take Too Many Pills, Doctors Deprescribe

Health-care professionals are screening patients to cut out ineffective medicines and avoid risky combinations