If you’re taking several medicines, here are the questions to ask
It’s not uncommon to take more medications as we age but every drug must have direct or future benefits that outweigh the risks associated with them.
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When we see an older family member handling a bulky box of medications sorted by day of the week, we might stop and wonder, is it too much? How do all those pills interact?
The fact is, as we get older we are more likely to develop different chronic illnesses that require us to take several different medications. This is known as polypharmacy. The concept applies to people taking five or more medications, but there are all sorts of definitions with different thresholds (for example, four, 10 or 15 medicines).
I’m a pharmacist and pharmacoepidemiologist interested in polypharmacy and its impact on the population. The research I carry out with my team at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Université Laval focuses on the appropriate use of medication by older family members. We have published this study on the perceptions of older adults, family carers and clinicians on the use of medication among persons over 65.
Polypharmacy among older adults
Polypharmacy is very common among older adults. In 2021, a quarter of persons over 65 in Canada were prescribed more than ten different classes of medication. In Québec, persons over 65 used an average of 8.7 different drugs in 2016, the latest year available for statistics.
Is it a good idea to take so many drugs?
According to our study, the vast...
