Abstract
In a recent survey of the patients in one general practice,1 87% of the over-75-year-olds were receiving regular drug treatment and no less than 44% were taking three or more different drugs daily. This would appear to be reasonably characteristic of the elderly in the community as a whole and, when one considers the large number of drugs prescribed for hospital in-patients (an average of 4.6 drugs per patient in Scotland2), it is small wonder that a third of the NHS drug expenditure is invested in this age group!
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References
Law, R. and Chambers, C, Medicines and elderly people: a general practice survey, British Medical Journal, i, 1976, 565–568
Lawson, D. H. and Jick, H., Drug prescribing in hospitals: an international comparison, American Journal of Public Health, 66, No. 7, 1976, 644–648
Further reading
Bleathman, C, Pharmacology, Nursing, 2, No. 41, September, 1985 1213–1217
Medication for the elderly, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London, 18, 1984, 7–17
Copyright information
© 1987 Gill Garrett
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Garrett, G. (1987). Drugs and the elderly. In: Health Needs of the Elderly. The Essentials of Nursing. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09486-8_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09486-8_14
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