15% of Older Adults at Risk for Serious Drug-Drug Interactions

One in 6 older adults regularly takes potentially deadly combinations of prescription and non-prescription medications and dietary supplements, according to researchers. The rates show a 2-fold increase over the last 5 years, they noted.

In order to better understand the frequency and potential for drug-drug interactions among older adults, researchers conducted descriptive analyses of a longitudinal, nationally representative sample of 2351 older adults.
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Researchers interviewed the participants between 2205 and 2006 and again between 2010 and 2011, and inspected their medications. Medication use was defined as use of a prescription of over-the-counter drug or supplement at least daily or weekly.

Between the study periods, use of at least 1 prescription medication increased from 84.1% to 87.7% and concurrent use of at least 5 prescription medications increased from 30.6% to 35.8%. Use of over-the-counter medications declined from 44.4% to 37.9% but the use of dietary supplements increased from 51.8% to 63.7%.

Specifically, the use of statins rose from 33.8% to 46.2%, antiplatelets from 32.8% to 43%, and omega-3 fish oils from 4.7% to 18.6%.

Overall, the number of adults at risk for potentially major drug-drug interactions rose from an estimated 8.4% to 15.1% between the 2 study periods.

“Improving safety with the use of multiple medications has the potential to reduce preventable adverse drug events associated with medications commonly used among older adults,” they concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Qato DM, Wilder J, Schumm LP, et al. Changes in prescription and over-the-counter medication and dietary supplement use among older adults in the United States, 2005 vs 2011. JAMA Internal Medicine. March 21, 2016 [epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.8581.