Drug therapy of elderly patients from the viewpoint of the clinical pharmacologist
Wehling, M.; Peiter, A.
Der Internist 44(8): 1003-1009
2003
ISSN/ISBN: 0020-9554 PMID: 14671815 Document Number: 566161
Polypragmasy (polypharmacotherapy) is often due to the frequent incidence of multimorbidity among elderly patients. This may evoke unpredictable drug-interactions, which often become a reason for hospitalization. Additional medications might be the consequence. Geriatric patients are often characterized by variant pharmacokinetic parameters. Individualized drug-therapy should take into consideration not only the patients' age, liver and kidney functions but also the individual variability of hepatic metabolization and drug-resorption in the intestine based on genetic polymorphisms. Summing up, it is very important to verify a consisting or a new drug-therapy concerning its risk-benefit ratio and if it is needed, to omit or change some of the medications.